Bajaj Auto has reported a net profit of Rs 905 crore for the December quarter against Rs 819 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago.
This translates into a rise of 11 per cent, and is the highest-ever posted, though sales and income from sales stood lower than last year.
The two-wheeler maker’s net sales income declined 5 per cent to Rs 5,025 crore from Rs 5,307 crore, while sales volume saw a dip of 12 per cent to 9.94 lakh units.
However, revenue from exports grew nearly 24 per cent during the period to Rs 2,123 crore, and accounted for around 40 per cent of the net sales income.
In the year-ago quarter, exports had accounted for 30 per cent of net income from sales.
EBITDA margin (before mark-to-market gain/loss) stood at 21.1 per cent against 19.8 per cent.
The auto industry, which has seen continued weakness, was hoping for some cheer in the festival season.
But sales during the festival period, though reasonable, were not robust. Subsequently, in November and December, industry sales continued to remain sluggish, Bajaj Auto said.
According to Arun Agarwal, an auto analyst at Kotak Securities, “While revenues came on expected lines, adjusted EBITDA margin fell short of expectation. Despite higher other income, adjusted net profit (adjusted for MTM gain/loss) was down on sequential basis. At the operating level, the performance was below expectation. Going ahead, we expect new products to provide push to volumes in the domestic market. In exports, the company continues to post growth.”
On the BSE, the scrip ranged between Rs 1,894 and Rs 1,917 during the intra-day trade before closing 0.66 per cent higher at Rs 1,908.