Steady margins save the show for Bajaj Auto

Whether raw material costs can be kept benign needs to be seen

Bajaj Auto’s December quarter core results didn’t surprise the Street. Its net sales fell 8.6 per cent to Rs 4,976 crore and net profit dropped 4.7 per cent to Rs 925 crore compared to a year ago, much on expected lines. The Street had toned-down expectations due to a 10.5 per cent fall in sales volume in the quarter (851,645 units).

While revenues were a tad lower than the Bloomberg estimates of Rs 5,055 crore, net profit was ahead of the estimates of  Rs851 crore, largely due to a 31.7 per cent year-on-year jump in other income to  Rs319 crore.