Bhel slipped into negative territory early on Friday as profitability expectations were belied by the company.

By 10:45 IST, the scrip of the electrical equipment maker dropped 2.02% to Rs 225, recording volumes of close to 32,000 shares on BSE.

Late Wednesday, Bhel unveiled fourth quarter and full year results. For Q4, the PSU power equipment major recorded a 2.6% rise in net profit to Rs 376.10 crore (Rs 3.76 billion) and 3% increase in total income to Rs 3,260.84 crore (Rs 32.6 billion).

capitalmarket.com had estimated a net profit in the range of Rs 414-420 crore (Rs 4.14-4.2 billion) for the company. Net sales were expected to be between Rs 3,763 crore (Rs 37.63 billion) and Rs 3,800 crore (Rs 37.63 billion) for MQ 2003. Thus, expectations were belied on the net profit as well as the net sales front.

For the year ended 31 March 2003, the company's net profit stood at Rs 517.06 crore (Rs 5.17 billion) on total income of Rs 7,206.56 crore (Rs 72.06 billion).

But things should look up for Bhel in the current fiscal, following its strong order book position. Earlier, there were reports that the company expects a double-digit growth in the current financial year. To vindicate those expectations is the fact that the company has orders worth Rs 16,000 crore (Rs 160 billion). Of these, 70% was received in the previous financial year.

Bhel is the largest engineering and manufacturing enterprise of its kind in India and a leading international company in the field of power equipment manufacture. The Centre has decided to sell 17% equity stake in Bhel to bring down its holding in the company to 51% from 67.7%. The heavy industry ministry has granted its concurrence to the proposal for divesting 17% stake to the public, financial institutions and employees.