Bosch Limited has registered a sales growth of 4.6% in the year 2009 on the back of an impressive 20% growth in the second half of the year.
The company posted net sales of Rs. 4749.8 crores in 2009 with Profit Before Tax (PBT) at Rs 793.4 crores accounting for 16.7% of net sales, compared to 18.9% in the year 2008. The Profit After Tax (PAT) stood at Rs 590.6 crores, which is 12.4% of net sales compared to 14% for the previous year.
Announcing the company’s financial results, VK Viswanathan, managing director, Bosch Limited, said, “The year 2009 was one of the most difficult years in our company’s history, owing to the effects of the global economic meltdown. The automotive sector was one of the worst affected with sales declining rapidly in end 2008 and beginning of 1st quarter of 2009. This decline was partially arrested by the stimulus packages offered by the Indian Government. Consequently, sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles stabilized quite early than expected. However, market recovery in the heavy commercial vehicle segment began only by the 3rd quarter 2009. Despite the visible signs of economic recovery, we continued to steer ahead cautiously with renewed vigour, focussing on delivering value to all our customersâ€.
The company’s Diesel Systems business was down by only 2.7% despite the decline in the 1st half of 2009 by 24%. Starter & Generators division de-grew by 10.9%, where as the Automotive Aftermarket business grew by 17.3% in 2009. The Gasoline Systems business grew by 121%, albeit on a smaller base.
The non-automotive business sectors especially Packaging Technology and Power Tools showed robust performance with growth of 15.9% and 19.3% respectively. However, Security Technology business was down by 17.4% compared to the previous year.
