Maruti smashes forecasts, net profit rises 80 percent

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Maruti Suzuki defied the worst slowdown in 12 years for India's car market with an 80 percent rise in fourth-quarter profit, benefiting from robust sales of its Ertiga multi-purpose vehicle and a sharp decline in the yen.

The better product mix, cheaper imports from Japan and a smaller royalty payment to its parent Suzuki Motor Corp also helped India's biggest car maker report higher revenue and profit margins.

Net profit for the quarter was 11.48 billion rupees, excluding the impact of its recent merger with its engine production unit Suzuki Powertrain India Ltd.

Analysts on average had expected profit of 7.22 billion rupees, according to data from Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Its EBITDA margin for the fourth quarter, excluding the powertrain unit, was 10.6 percent, compare with 7.5 percent in the same quarter last year, said chief financial officer Ajay Seth.

Shares in the carmaker rose as much as 5.3 percent following the results, compared with a 0.3 decline in the broader market.

Maruti, which accounts for 40 percent of all of India's passenger vehicle sales, weathered the first fall in annual car sales for a decade after its Ertiga, a family sized multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) hit a sweet spot with consumers.

MPVs and sports-utility vehicles were the only segments to see sales soar last year, on a trend towards more bulky cars for India's often poorly maintained and traffic-clogged roads, and generous government subsidies on diesel, the segments' primary fuel.

Although its overall sales of vehicles declined by 4 percent during the quarter, Maruti's net sales rose 9.4 percent to 125.7 billion rupees, excluding the powertrain unit.

"The increase in net profit during the quarter was on account of higher sales of new models such as Ertiga, DZire and Swift, cost reduction and localization efforts and the benefit of a favourable exchange rate," Maruti said in a statement.

Helped by expectations of yen weakness, Maruti has been the only automaker in India to see its share price gain for the year through to Thursday's close, gaining 6.8 percent compared to an average 9.2 percent drop for its local peers.

The yen was 13 percent weaker against the dollar on March 31 compared with the same date a year earlier.

(Reporting by Henry Foy in MUMBAI and Krishna Das in NEW DELHI; Additional reporting by Reshma Apte in BANGALORE; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)