Exide Q4 net rises 3 percent

Kolkata, April 29 (IANS) Exide Industries, the country's biggest storage battery producing company, Monday reported a meagre 2.76 percent rise in its net profit to Rs.146.46 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2013 compared to Rs.142.52 crore for the same period a year ago.

Total income of the city-based firm during the period under review increased from Rs.1,468.89 crore to Rs.1,571.630 crore for the corresponding period previous year.

As for the full financial year 2012-13, the company's net revenue stood at Rs.6,071 crore, reflecting a 19 percent growth, while the net profit for the year at Rs.523 crore was 13 percent higher than previous year, Exide Industries Ltd informed Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Commenting on the financial performance of the company, managing director and CEO T.V. Ramanathan said: "There is marked improvement in the company's performance during the fourth quarter of the financial year 2012-13. The regaining of the market share in the crucial automotive replacement market, that started during the first quarter of the financial year under review gained further traction during this period."

"However, the full impact of volume growth did not accrue due to de-growth in the original equipment (OE) business in the four-wheeler and less than expected growth in the two-wheeler OE segment," he said.

During the current financial year, the company has planned a capital outlay of Rs.250 crore to be spent on capacity augmentation for industrial batteries and modernisation.

Capital expenditure of the firm during the last financial year was Rs.176 crore.

Exide also informed the BSE that Ramanathan will retire as the Exide managing director and CEO on the expiry of his term April 30, 2013, and P.K. Kataky, presently director, Automotive, will take over with effect from May 1.