New Delhi: The 104th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited (GRSE) was held on Friday through video conferencing. The Meeting was attended by GRSE's Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) Rear Admiral VK Saxena and other Directors, along with shareholders. During the AGM, the board of directors announced financial performance of the company for the financial year 2019-20.

The highlights of GRSE's performance during the year 2019-20:

• Revenue from operations stood at Rs 1,433.30 crore as compared Rs 1,386.42 crore, an increase of3.38 percent over the previous year
• EBITDA stood at Rs 255.30 crore as compared to Rs 211.16 crore, 20.90 percent, an improvement over previous Year
• EBITDA (Margin) is 15.39 percent in the current twelve months against 13.56 percent in the corresponding twelve months. Thus, registering an increase of 1.83 percent
• PBT stood at Rs 223.87 crore as compared to Rs 178.96 crore, up by 25.10 percent, in comparison to twelve months of previous year
• PAT stood at Rs 163.48 crore, as compared to Rs 109.94 crore, up by 48.70 percent, in comparison to same period of previous year
• Profit After Tax (Margin) is 9.86 percent in the current twelve months against 7.06 percent in the corresponding twelve months thus, a registered increase of 2.80 percent
• EPS stood at Rs.14.27 as compared to Rs 9.60 up by Rs 4.67 per share, in comparison to the same period of the previous year

The board of directors of the company has recommended a final dividend of Rs 1.40/- per equity share of face value of Rs 10/- each for the financial year 2019-20. This is in addition to the interim dividend of Rs 5.74/- per equity share of face value of Rs 10/- each which was paid on March 30, 2020. The total dividend declared for the financial year 2019-20 is Rs 7.14/- per equity share of face value of Rs.10/- each. The order book position of the company as on March 31, stood at Rs 26,544 crore with shipbuilding projects related order book value of Rs 26,281 crore. During the reported period, the company delivered four warships, two for the Indian Navy and two for the Indian Coast Guard. This makes the total number of warships delivered until March 31 this year at 104.

Read also: Atmanirbhar Bharat Week: GRSE launches new modernisation facilities

Strengthening India's defence preparedness has been GRSE's core objective, focused on its core verticals of shipbuilding, engineering and engine production. The company delivered the 105th warship, FPV, ICGS Kanaklata Barua, to the Indian Coast Guard on June 9. Being the only shipyard in the country to have delivered 105 warships. With a continuous focus on modernisation of infrastructure, GRSE has taken a strategic step to augment existing shipbuilding capacity. A state of the art underwater CNC Plasma Cutting Machine and a new Hull Block Fabrication Facility were inaugurated by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at the RBD Unit of GRSE during Aatmanirbhar Bharat Week on August 10. GRSE's diversification into engineering has aided the land forces of the country and friendly foreign countries as it offers a range of pre-fabricated steel bridges installed at high altitudes and for disaster relief. On August 13, Singh launched a "First-of-its-Kind" Assault Bridge as part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat week event.

Saxena, in his address, highlighted GRSE's healthy order book and expressed his confidence in team GRSE to emerge strong amidst the uncertainties created by the global pandemic. He appreciated the hard work and dedication of all the employees in taking the company on its path of success and thanked the investors for their faith, commitment and confidence in the shipyard. The unstinted support from the Ministry of Defence, Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard, Central and the state government authorities has helped GRSE achieve its goals, he said. With new initiatives like the implementation of industry 4.0 robotics, AI, machine learning, innovations in automation, GRSE is poised for workload consolidation across design, production, and supply chain management in the future to strive ahead on a growth path, said GRSE in an official statement.

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