Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, the country’s largest passenger car manufacturer, on Tuesday said that stand-alone net profit rose by a tepid 5% for the third quarter ended December (Q3) to Rs 1,564.8 crore compared to the year-ago quarter. Stand-alone revenue, meanwhile, inched up 5.3% to Rs 20,707 crore during the period.
Most of the brokerage houses were expecting Maruti Suzuki to report 12-30% year-on-year rise in net profit during the December quarter driven by strong operating income and a low base. To recall, the company has reported a decline in profit during the previous five quarters.
Consequently, Maruti Suzuki shares dropped 2.5% after the earning announcement. At 2:43 pm, the stock was trading at Rs 6,985, down 2.3%, after hitting the day’s low of Rs 6,964.55.
Maruti Suzuki said profit growth was “on account of cost-reduction efforts, lower operating expenses, lower commodity prices and reduction in the corporate tax rate, (but was) partially offset by higher sales promotion expenses, higher depreciation, and lower fair value gains on invested surplus”.
The auto maker registered net sales of Rs 19,649 crore, up 3.8% as compared to the same period a year ago. Maruti had sold 437,361 vehicles during the three months ended December 2019, up 2% compared with a year ago and 29% sequentially.
In terms of operating performance, Maruti Suzuki's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) jumped 8.9% year-on-year to Rs 2,102 crore in the December quarter, while Ebitda margin improved 30 basis points to 10.1% compared with a year ago.
Comments
0 comment