Ashok Leyland Q2 net down 16%BS Reporter / Chennai October 23, 2007Commercial vehicle major Ashok Leyland has reported 16% fall in net propfit at Rs 80.33 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2007 when compared with Rs 95.36 crore in the corresponding period a year ago, on the back of slowdown in the domestic commercial vehicle market.For the second quarter of this fiscal, net sales of the company was up 4% to Rs 1745.89 crore when compared with Rs 1675.72 crore in the same period previous fiscal. The second quarter operating profit was almost flat from a year earlier at Rs 133 crore.For the half year ended September 30, 2007, the net profit of the company was up 2.4% to Rs 168.52 crore when compared with Rs 164.51 crore in the same period a year ago, primarily due to higher bus sales. "Garnering more than half of the market share in the bus segment has helped the company offset the impact of the slowdown in the goods segment," said a company statement.Net sales for the half year went up 8.6% to Rs 3367.03 crore from Rs 3099.59 crore in the year-ago period, on the back of higher sales volume at 37,033 units, compared to 36,903 units in the previous fiscal, despite a 5% fall in the country
