HAL sales growth dips in fiscal 2011-12

Bangalore, April 1 (IANS) The annual sales growth of state-run defence behemoth Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) at 6.7 percent in fiscal 2011-12 was less than half of 14.5 percent it posted in the previous fiscal.

According to the company's provisional financial results for the fiscal under review, sales at Rs.14,001 crore (over $2.5 billion) registered a 6.7 percent growth against Rs.13,116 crore in 2010-11, which was 14.5 percent growth over the fiscal 2009-10.

Profit before tax, however, grew 12.6 percent to Rs.3,200 crore from Rs.2,840 crore, which was 5.6 percent over the previous fiscal.

The company paid an interim dividend of Rs.747.7 crore to the central government for fiscal 2012.

"We have met the targets set for the fiscal as per the MoU (memorandum of understanding) signed with the government," the company said in a statement late Saturday.

Highlighting the achievements during the fiscal, the company said flight trials for the turret gun and rocket were completed for its flagship product - Dhruv, the Advanced Light Helicopter-Weapon Systems Integrated (ALH-WSI) version.

As for the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) project under the limited series production (LSP-7), the indigenous fighter Tejas was handed over to the Indian Air Force (IAF) for user evaluation trials and initial operational clearance.

The company also conducted the maiden flight of its Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) as technology demonstrator-2 after reducing its weight, optimising transmission system and incorporating improvements based on flight evaluation of its first technology demonstrator.

Similarly, design and analysis of structural parts of Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) were completed during the year under review.