Bajaj Auto Q2 profit falls marginally to Rs 1,112 crore

Ebidta margin for the quarter declined to 20.8% from 22.3% last year

Bajaj Auto on Tuesday reported a 1% fall in its net profit to Rs 1,112 crore for the second quarter, compared to the corresponding period last year, sending the stock price to hit a new high of Rs 3,310. The company had reported a Rs 1,123 crore — the best quarterly figure — net profit in the second quarter of last financial year. 

The Pune-headquartered firm reported a sales revenue of Rs 6,461 crore for the September quarter, against Rs 6,327 crore last year. The Ebidta (Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) margin for the quarter declined to 20.8% from 22.3% last year. The company sold 918,721 motorcycles and 152,789 commercial vehicles (three wheelers) in the quarter, showing an increase of 2% and 14%, respectively. 

“Raw material price was subdued during the second quarter of previous year. This year, raw materials and metals like steel and aluminum have firmed up, leading to marginal drop in profit. But a margin of 20.8% is good in the current environment,” said S Ravikumar, president (business development) at Bajaj Auto. 

Kumar said the company is planning to sell four million vehicles (two- and three-wheelers) during the current financial year, against 3.6 million in FY17. 

Bajaj Auto reported better-than-expected operating results for the September quarter of this fiscal year. Higher export sales and price hikes taken led to the margins coming closer to the 20% mark, thus beating ours as well as consensus estimates, said Bharat Gianani, research analyst - auto & auto ancillaries, Sharekhan.