Bajaj Auto Q1 consolidated net down 1% at Rs 1,012 cr, margin dips to 16%

The company had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 1,115.2 crore in the year-ago period

Bajaj Auto reported a consolidated net profit at Rs 1012.17 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2019 versus Rs 1,115.2 crore reported in the year-ago period. Consolidated total revenue from operations for the period under review stood at Rs 7,756 crore as against Rs 7627.9 crore in the year-ago quarter, it said.

Total volumes for the quarter stood at 1,247,174 units. The company's total sales for the period under review came in at 1247,174 units. EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) stood at 1,250 crore, a fall of 9 per cent YoY. Margins took a beating, falling to 16.1 per cent from 18.3 per cent y-o-y.

As on 30th June 2019, surplus cash and cash equivalents stood at Rs 17,126 crore as against Rs 16,368 crore as on 31 st March 2019, the company said in its press release. 
 

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Analysts at Motilal Oswal had predicted a 2.1 per cent YoY growth in Bajaj Auto's revenue to Rs 7,572.6 crore and 2.8 per cent decline in net profit to Rs 1,083.6 crore.

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Phillip Capital had pegged Bajaj Auto's fall in margins at 190 bps YoY to 15.4 per cent due to inferior product mix and higher discounting in domestic two-wheeler portfolio. "Ebitda may come in at Rs 1,119.3 crore," the brokerage firm had said in its result preview note

For the domestic motorcycle segment, Bajaj Auto recorded a growth of 3% in the recently concluded quarters over Q1FY19, as against an industry de-growth of 9%. The overall share in the domestic motorcycle market stood at 18.3% as against 16.3% in Q1FY19.

"In the Sports segment, the Company continues to maintain its dominance with market share of 46.9% in Q1FY20. Pulsar, along with Avenger, sold over 261,000 units, a growth of 17% over Q1FY19. The newly launched Avenger 160 has sold over 12,000 units," Bajaj Auto said in a filing to the exchanges.

Bibhishan Jagtap, an analyst at Institutional Equities IDBI Capital said the company had fared better than its peers on the volume front, but margins were a worry.

"At around 15.4 per cent, margins were obviously below everyone's expectation and are their lowest so far. On the volume front though, Bajaj Auto is doing extremely well. Their volumes are somehow in the positive territory as compared to Hero MotoCorp, Eicher and TVS Motors," Jagtap said.

Adding: "The next two months will be very difficult for the industry, and Bajaj would be no exception. As far as the second half is concerned, people expect performance to improve marginally as compared to H1CY19. Looking at all these factors, one should stay away from the two-wheeler space - not only Bajaj Auto, but the entire two-wheeler segment. Buy only on a sharp correction for the long term."