Bajaj Auto Q4 profit up 2% YoY to Rs 1,332 cr; Ebitda margin slips 90 bps

Two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto on Thursday reported a 1.6 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth in standalone net profit at Rs 1,332.07 crore for March quarter of FY21 (Q4FY21). The same was Rs 1,310.3 crore in the year-ago period. 

On a quarterly basis, the profit tumbled 14.4 per cent from Rs 1,556.3 crore.

On a consolidated basis, the profit grew 14.5 per cent to Rs 1,551.28 crore from Rs 1,353.99 crore logged in March quarter of FY20.

The revenue of the firm, however, clocked a 26.11 per cent improvement over previous year’s revenue of Rs 6,815.9 crore and stood at Rs 8,596.10 crore. Sequentially, it was down 3.5 per cent from Rs 8,909.9 crore.

The numbers were in-line Street estimates which was factoring-in nearly 25 per cent growth in revenue led by a double digit increase in sales volume. Global brokerage Nomura, for instance, expected revenue to grow 25 per cent YoY to Rs 8,528.2 crore led by volume growth of 23 per cent YoY and price hikes of nearly 1.5 per cent QoQ.

On the downside, Emkay Global had pegged revenue at Rs 8,280 crore, down 7 per cent QoQ due to 10 per cent sequential drop in sales. READ HERE

Operationally, Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization) came in at Rs 1,558 crore for the quarter under review, up 20 per cent YoY from Rs 1,293 crore reported last year. Higher input costs, negative operating leverage, and depreciation of rupee against the US dollar led to Ebitda margin contraction to 18.1, down 90 bps YoY.

Operating profit for the quarter too grew 21 per cent YoY to Rs 1,490 crore from Rs 1,229 crore while the pre-tax profit rose just 1 per cent YoY to Rs 1,739 crore.

The Board of Directors has recommended a dividend of Rs 140 per equity share. 

Sales

Q4FY21 recorded a healthy double-digit growth of 18 per cent YoY in volume for Motorcycles in domestic market, overall exports, and Auto spare parts business. 

Total domestic sales for Q4Fy21 stood at 534,119 units compared with 478,160 units in Q4FY20 and exports stood at 635,545 units, up 24 per cent YoY from 513,801 units. Overall, total sales came in at 1,169,664 units during the quarter.

"Pulsar 125 continues to witness strong pull in the domestic motorcycle market and clocked a sale of over 128,000 units as against nearly 51,000 units in Q4FY20. Exports also continue to perform very well with sales of over 635,000 units," it said in a statement. 

For the full FY21, Bajaj Auto said that domestic CV business remains impacted due to inadequate demand for short distance mobility. However, over the quarters, this business is recovering, albeit slowly.

"Bajaj Auto remains market leader in big three-wheeler passenger carrier segment with a market share nearly 46.9 per cent. In Goods carrier segment, the market share improved over FY20 by 670 bps to 33.7 per cent," it said.

Shares of the company ended 1.14 per cent lower at Rs 3,834 apiece on the BSE, as against a 0.06 per cent gain in the benchmark Sensex index. Earlier in the day, the scrip hit a high and low of Rs 3,960 and Rs 3,809, respectively.