Apollo Tyres Q4 PAT down 16% at Rs 228.23 cr

Apollo Tyres today reported 16.1 per cent decline in consolidated profit after tax at Rs 228.23 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2017 hit by rise in raw material costs.
The company had posted a consolidated profit after tax of Rs 272.05 crore in the same period of previous fiscal, Apollo Tyres said in a BSE filing.
Total revenue during the quarter under review stood at Rs 3,639.39 crore as compared to Rs 3,268.84 crore in the year- ago period, a growth of 11.33 per cent.
Cost of raw material consumed zoomed by 29 per cent during the quarter at Rs 1,739.22 crore as compared to Rs 1,347.23 crore in the year-ago period.

The company said its total expenses during the quarter were at Rs 3,380.86 crore as against Rs 2,917.49 crore in the same period of previous fiscal, a jump of 15.88 per cent.
For the fiscal ended March 31, 2017, profit after tax was at Rs 1,098.99 crore as against Rs 1,122.96 crore, down 2.13 per cent.

Apollo Tyres said its total revenue for 2016-17 was at Rs 14,324.08 crore as against Rs 12,919.51 crore, a growth of 10.87 per cent.
The board of directors of the company have recommended a dividend payment at Rs 3 per equity share of face value Re 1 each.

Commenting on the results, Apollo Tyres Chairman Onkar S Kanwar said despite challenges in the last fiscal, all the key operations of the company have done well.
"Raw material prices, which have increased sharply quarter-on-quarter, continue to pose challenges for us, and have impacted our margins," he said.
Kanwar further said truck radial segment grew in India in the fourth quarter but it has been impacted by dumping of low cost tyres, especially from China, through the year.
"There has been a healthy volume growth in the passenger vehicle segment across geographies in the past fiscal," he added.
On the outlook, he said the company is looking forward to a good volume growth in the current fiscal on the back of tyres rolling out the new Hungarian plant and also from the expanded truck-bus radial facility in Chennai.

The company is also eyeing a gradual increase in market share in Europe over the next few years, he added.
Shares of Apollo Tyres ended 1.05 per cent up at Rs 245.40 on BSE.