Ashok Leyland Q4 results: Profit falls 17% to Rs 751 crore, revenue up 33%

Commercial vehicles maker Ashok Leyland, on Tuesday, posted a net profit of Rs 751 crore for the March quarter. This is 16.64 per cent decline from Rs 901 crore a year ago, the company statement said.

The company’s consolidated revenue from operation rose by 32.95 per cent to Rs 11,626 crore for the March quarter as compared to Rs 8,744 crore in the year-ago period.

The company said its truck market share improved to 32.7 per cent in the fourth quarter, from 30.6 per cent a year earlier, while the market share in buses grew to 27.1 per cent as against 26.4 per cent last year.

"The CV industry is buoyant due to favourable macroeconomic factors and a healthy demand from the end-user industries," Ashok Leyland Executive chairman Dheeraj Hinduja said in a statement.

He expected sales momentum to continue on pent-up replacement demand, ramp up of infrastructure projects and growth in sectors, including construction, mining and agriculture.

The company recommended a dividend of Rs 2.60 per share for the financial year 2023.

Shares of Ashok Leyland settled 0.6 per cent lower on Tuesday, ahead of the results. They fell 2.93 per cent in the March quarter, in line with the Nifty auto index.

Earlier this month, Ashok Leyland reported a 10 per cent increase in total sales at 12,974 units in April 2023, as compared to the same month last year.

The company had registered total sales of 11,847 units in the same month a year ago, Ashok Leyland said in a regulatory filing.

Domestic sales also rose 10 per cent last month at 12,366 units, as compared to 11,197 units in April 2022.

Exports were marginally down at 608 units last month, as compared to 650 units in the year-ago period.

“Q4 FY22 witnessed one off exceptional gains of Rs 468 crore. Normalised Q4 PAT would be at Rs 433 crore (Rs 901 – 468 cr) as against Q4 FY23 PAT of Rs 751 crore, current year PAT is higher by 73%. This impact is relevant for full year PAT also. FY23 PAT of Rs 1,380 crore will be higher than last year normalised PAT of Rs 74 crore (Rs 542-468 cr) by 17.65 times. Better performance in FY23 is due to increase in revenue and consequent improvement in EBITDA margins,” said Gopal Mahadevan, Whole-time Director and Chief Financial Officer, Ashok Leyland.

(With inputs from Reuters)