Weak monsoon crimps Mahindra net by over 4% to Rs 946 crore

Auto major Mahindra & Mahindra today reported a 4.33 per cent decline in standalone net income at Rs 946.63 crore in the three months to September due to poor sales following a weak monsoon in some parts of the country.
On a standalone basis, net sales stood at Rs 9,418.10 crore, up 6.84 per cent from Rs 8,814.33 crore earlier.
Executive director & president for automotive and farm equipment sectors Pawan Goenka said the tractors sector is unlikely to meet the earlier forecast of 5 per cent growth in the fiscal and the company will soon revise the estimates.
"We said last quarter that at the end of the festive season, we will take a call again, we had talked about a growth of 5-10 per cent with bias towards 5 per cent. At the end of first half, there is a small degrowth in tractor sales, so it is very unlikely to see a growth of 5 per cent, but we will take a fresh call soon," he said, talking to reporters.

He also negated the possibility of the four-wheeler segment logging 10 per cent growth in FY15.
"As far as four-wheeler players are concerned, things are looking up, but until now, growth has been around 5 per cent, therefore it is very unlikely that it will cross 10 per cent for the full year. We expect industry growth to be around 10 per cent in H2 and taking the full year growth to 7-7.5 per cent," he said.

Pointing out that growth is not uniform, he said utility vehicles will grow faster than cars, but vans are de-growing, while pick-up trucks and trucks are also growing.

Growth in UVs continues and the company's offerings will only come sometime next calender year, he said, adding now there is a shift from diesel to petrol, as the diesel-petrol price gap has come down to 16-17 per cent. Accordingly from 45 per cent diesel, the share has come down to 35 per cent, he said.
Goenka also said the two-wheeler industry, which logged a 15 per cent growth in H1, is expected to continue the momentum in the rest of the fiscal.
The truck segment is also out of slowdown and M&M expects growth to continue in coming months, he said.

Goenka said the pressure on the market share will continue, since the M&M does not have any soft-roader UV, but the company continues to enjoy a very healthy 52 percent market share in the off-roader, rugged SUV space.
During the quarter, the company sold 47,906 UVs and enjoyed a market share of 33.2 percent. It also exported 7,053 vehicles during the period.