Maruti Q4 PAT dips 5% YoY to Rs 1,796 cr; announces dividend of Rs 80/sh

Maruti Suzuki India on Thursday reported a net profit of Rs 1,795.6 crore for the March quarter of financial year 2018-19 (FY19), down 4.6 per cent on year-on-year (YoY) basis. It had posted a PAT of Rs 1,882.1 crore in the March quarter of the previous fiscal year. Maruti also announced a dividend of Rs 80 per share for 2018-19, the same as that of last year. 

The numbers, however, are still better than what brokerages had projected for the auto company. For instance, analysts at ICICI Securities had estimated a 15.8 per cent decline on YoY basis in Maruti's net profit at Rs 1,585 crore. 

Total revenue from operations for the period under review stood at Rs 21,459.4 crore against Rs 21,165.6 crore, up 1.4 per cent YoY. For the full financial year 2018-19, net profit came in at Rs 7,500.6 crore on a standalone basis, lower by 2.9 per cent compared to the same period previous year. 

On a consolidated basis, total income for the full financial year stood at Rs 88,630.1 crore as against Rs 84,086.9 crore in the previous corresponding period. Net profit at Rs 7650.6 crore was lower as compared to Rs 78,807 crore y-o-y.
Total sales (in number of units) in the quarter stood at 458,479 vehicles, a decline of 0.7 per cent. The company said the quarter under review was marked by adverse foreign exchange rates and commodity prices, higher depreciation and higher sales promotion expenses partially offset by cost reduction efforts. 

Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) stood at Rs 2,263.4 crore, down 25 per cent YoY while Ebidta margin fell 360 basis points (bps) to 10.6 per cent during the quarter. 

For the full financial year 2018-19, the company sold a total of 1,753,700 units in the domestic market, a growth of 6.1 per cent. This comprised 1,729,826 units in the passenger vehicle segment, a growth of 5.3 per cent and 23,874 units of LCV (light commercial vehicle), a growth of 138 per cent over previous year. Exports were at 108,749 units, it said in its press release. 

"This was a difficult year because of adverse foreign exchange rates and increase in commodity prices. The second SMG plant in Gujarat was commissioned leading to a higher depreciation expense. The overall market was slow and had to be supported by higher sales promotion expenses. This was partially offset by cost reduction efforts," the press release added.

At 02:31 pm, shares of Maruti were trading at Rs 6,974.05, down nearly a per cent on BSE.