Ashok Leyland net dips 59%

Reports profit of Rs 43.37 crore for the December quarter

Hinduja Group’s flagship company Ashok Leyland has reported a net profit of Rs 43.37 crore for the quarter-ended December, as against Rs 104.63 crore during the year-ago period, down 59 per cent. Revenue rose 22.5 per cent to Rs 2,227.25 crore, as against Rs 1,817.49 crore during the same period last year.

“As I had forewarned after the robustness of the second quarter, the December quarter has been a bit of a dampener. The same can be attributed to the time taken by the market to accept the new emission norms and critical supply issues, Managing Director R Seshasayee said.

However, the company is optimistic about the fourth quarter and beyond.

Seshasayee said there was good traction in the economy and agricultural output was expected to be encouraging. Owing to adequate freight availability and higher capacity utilisation, commercial vehicles were showing buoyancy.

By ramping up production to meet an increase in demand, Ashok Leyland was targeting to finish 2010-11 strongly, nearing 95,000 vehicles, he added.

Sales volume rose by 14 per cent to 18,437 units, with exports registering a 147 per cent jump to 3,513 units. Production volume stood at 19,291 units, as against 19,411 units during the year-ago period.

Meanwhile, the company announced the appointment Seshasayee as the new executive vice chairman. He will be replaced by Vinod K Dasari, the current CEO and a whole-time director.