Bosch reports 31% rise in net at Rs 306 cr in Q3

Its income from operations went up 16% to Rs 2,457 cr

Aided by good growth in demand from passenger cars and commercial vehicle segments, Bosch Limited, a supplier of technology and services to automotive OEMs, today reported a robust 31% growth in net profit at Rs 306 crore for the third quarter ended September 2014 compared to Rs 234 crore in the corresponding period last year.

Its income from operations went up 16.3% to Rs 2,457 crore as against Rs 2,113 crore in the same period last year.

The operating profit for the quarter recorded 42.2% growth to Rs 337 crore compared to Rs 237 crore in the year ago period.

Domestic sales increased by 18.5% and export sales grew by 3.3% when compared with the same quarter a year ago.

"Backed by strong growth in our Mobility Solutions business, previously Automotive Technology, and on a lower base from Quarter 3 2013, we have registered a healthy performance for the given quarter. This growth is well above the performance of the Indian automotive market for the quarter, which has benefitted from the good growth witnessed in the passenger cars and heavy commercial vehicle segment," Steffen Berns, managing director of Bosch Limited said.

The company's Mobility Solutions business in India, which constitutes a major portion of its revenue, grew by 18.7%. Business divisions of Diesel Systems and Gasoline Systems performed better. Owing to weak markets, the company's business sectors besides Mobility Solutions overall grew marginally.

"Our localisation efforts, tight budgetary control and improvement in operational efficiency continue to yield good results. The current strike at our Bangalore plant has not affected the third quarter performance, since it started in the last two weeks of the quarter ending September. It will have some minor effect in the subsequent quarter's performance. We are keen to resolve the issues with our union as we look forward to sustaining our growth and competitiveness in the market," Berns added.

The company's scrip closed 1.52% higher at Rs 15,642 per share on the close of trading on BSE.