Hero MotoCorp on Tuesday reported a consolidated net profit of ₹Rs.721 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2022, up 2 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) compared with ₹704 crore in the corresponding period last financial year.
Revenue from operations also rose marginally to ₹8,118 crore (₹8,013 crore).
The company sold 12.40 lakh units of motorcycles and scooters in the quarter, a decline of 4 per cent y-o-y compared with 12.92 lakh units in the year-ago period.
Recovering share
Meanwhile, the Board of the company declared an interim dividend of ₹65 per equity share (face value of ₹2 per equity share) for this fiscal. “Accordingly, the Board has fixed February 17 as the record date for determining entitlement of members for the purpose of payment of interim dividend. The payment of interim dividend/dispatch of dividend warrants will be completed by March 9,” said a statement
The company has started recovering its market share and expects it to continue backed by new launches lined up over the next few quarters, especially in the premium segment, said Niranjan Gupta, CFO.
“This, coupled with our renewed focus on savings programme should also help in improving our margin profile going forward. We are excited about our EV programme, with Vida being established as a premium and aspirational brand. We are planning to roll this out across multiple cities in FY24. Our R&D teams are working on accelerated portfolio expansion as well, in the EV space,” he said.
Working in favour
“The recently presented Budget augurs well for the growth of economy as well as auto sector. We expect the two-wheeler industry to clock double-digit revenue growth in FY24,” Gupta added.
Shares of Hero MotoCorp closed at ₹2,653.65 apiece on the BSE on Tuesday, down 1.52 per cent from the previous close.