Eicher Motors' profit after tax jumps 73% to Rs 526 cr in March quarter

Eicher Motors Ltd on Thursday reported a 73 per cent jump in consolidated profit after tax at Rs 526.14 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2021, riding on better sales.

The company had posted a consolidated profit after tax of Rs 304.28 crore in the fourth quarter of the previous fiscal, Eicher Motors Ltd said in a regulatory filing.

Its consolidated total revenue from operations in January-March quarter stood at Rs 2,940.33 crore, compared with Rs 2,208.18 crore in the year-ago quarter.

The group's two-wheeler arm Royal Enfield sold 2,03,343 motorcycles in the quarter, an increase of 25 per cent from 1,63,083 motorcycles sold over the same period in FY 2019-20, the company said.

The company's joint venture with Volvo, VE Commercial Vehicles (VECV), recorded growth of 56 per cent with volumes of 18,167 units against 11,629 units during the same period last year, it added.

For the fiscal ended March 31, 2021 the company's consolidated profit after tax was down 26 per cent at Rs 1,346.89 crore as compared to Rs 1,827.44 crore in 2019-20, it said.

Consolidated total revenue from operations for FY21 was down at Rs 8,720.35 crore as against Rs 9,153.58 crore in FY20.

The board of directors at its meeting held on Thursday approved a dividend of Rs 17 per equity share of a face value of Rs 1 each for the financial year ended March 31, 2021, the company said.

Eicher Motors Ltd Managing Director Siddhartha Lal said it has been a challenging year for the industry with the COVID-19 pandemic leading to disruption in production, supply chain and retail operations.

"During the year, there were challenges also on account of factors such as supply chain constraints and commodity price increase.

"However, demand continues to be good. Royal Enfield witnessed very good pick up in the second half of the year, and registered a strong performance in Q4," he added.

He added that the company has seen encouraging demand coming from rural as well as urban segments.

"The launch of the Meteor (model) has been well received by consumers, and has witnessed excellent response. We have also been able to significantly increase our retail market presence in India and globally through this year," Lal said.

On the commercial vehicles front, he said the industry also showed equal resilience and saw good recovery in the latter half of the year.

VECV gained market share across segments. In the heavy duty segment, VECV volume grew 6 per cent in 2020-21 compared to last year against a decline of 21 per cent in industry volume, Lal added.

"Overall, both at Royal Enfield and at VECV, we have managed to tide over a tough year, and despite imminent challenges that persist, we remain steadfast on our strategic long term goals," he said.