COVID-19 woes: 155 non-BFSI firms listed on BSE post Rs 4.39 lakh crore revenue loss in June quarter

As many as 155 top non-BFSI companies listed on the BSE together reported a revenue loss of Rs 4.39 lakh crore in the June quarter as the coronavirus pandemic and resulting macroeconomic factors impacted business, according to a report.

Leading consultancy EY India's report, released on Tuesday, is based on an analysis of the June quarter reporting compared to that of the March quarter of top 200 BSE listed companies across 13 sectors.

BFSI stands for banking, financial services and insurance. The report evaluated the impact of COVID-19 disruptions on the companies' reporting calendar, profitability, financial performance, liquidity, disclosures and other key parameters.

"155 BSE 200 companies which operate in non-BFSI sectors noted Rs 4,39,714 crore (-30 percent on average) revenue loss in the June 2020 quarter compared to the preceding March 2020 quarter due to the pandemic and resulting changes in macro-economic factors," EY said.

As per the analysis, most of the companies across sectors experienced a material impact on some if not all key financial performance indicators, such as EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization), revenue, interest service coverage, profitability as well as Earnings Per Share (EPS).

"Life sciences was the only sector witnessing marginal growth in revenue in the June 2020 quarter compared to the preceding quarter. "However, few sectors reported increase in EBITDA despite revenue loss due to the adoption of cost conservation measures and changes in other macro-economic factors," the report said.

According to the report, 45 of the BSE-200 companies operating in BFSI sectors saw muted growth in revenue in the form of lower interest earned on loans by banks and NBFCs as a result of de-growth in loan disbursements in the June quarter.

"The new business premiums have been impacted for life insurance companies except for protection products. However, for general insurance companies, there is an increase in average net written premium of 37 percent mainly due to the increase in premium for health, fire and crop segments.

"For listed asset management companies, there is an increase in asset under management mainly on account of growth in digital subscriptions and higher subscriptions for gold funds," it said. The 13 sectors covered include advanced manufacturing and mobility, aviation, consumer products and retail, power, real estate and infrastructure.

Jalpa Sonchhatra, Partner, Financial Accounting Advisory Services (FAAS) at EY India said that while analysing the average deferral (number of days) in declaring results for the 2020 June quarter compared to the year-ago period, almost 83 percent companies could declare their results in time without opting for extension awarded by Sebi, compared to 52 percent in March 2020.

"This shows significant improvement and adoption of new normal by most of the companies for their financial closings through intervention of advanced technologies along with an enormous shift in behavioural changes," Sonchhatra added.