Hinduja group flagship Ashok Leyland Ltd (ALL) has reported a 30 per cent fall in net profit for the quarter ended December 31, 2001, at Rs 13.51 crore, compared with Rs 19.38 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.
Net sales in the quarter were Rs 528.69 crore as against Rs 605.9 crore in October-December 2000, a fall of 13 per cent.
Earnings per share (EPS, not annualised) for the December-quarter was Rs 1.14 as against Rs 1.63 in corresponding quarter last year.
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All, India's second-largest commercial vehicle manufacturer reported a 55 per cent increase in net profit during the nine months ended December 2001 at Rs 22.6 crore as against Rs 14.6 crore.
Net sales during April-December 2001 increased by 5 per cent to Rs 1,749.2 crore, up from Rs 1,669.3 crore in April-December 2000.
R Seshasayee, managing director, ALL, said: "This quarter, our sales have been affected, in the main, by lower off-take by the state transport undertakings. A favourable product mix and continuous gains in operational and cost efficiencies have helped us tide over the fall in sales revenue".
Meanwhile, the company's stock in the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at Rs 76.65 per share, touched an intra-day high of Rs 78.4 before declining by 2.74 per cent to close at Rs 74.55 per share.
Company officials were hopeful of pick-up in demand in the last quarter and improving the financial results of last year. They were hoping to receive substantial orders from state transport undertakings (STUs), private passenger market (especially in Tamil Nadu because of fare hike) and tipper markets.
However, the company's gross operating margin (Income from operations less operating expenditure) during the three and nine months ended December 2001 increased by 9.49 per cent and 13.45 per cent, respectively.
Interest and depreciation charge during the third quarter ended December 2001 were Rs 20.82 crore (Rs 18.36 crore) and Rs 23.8 crore (Rs 21.35 crore), respectively.
On the financial performance, Ananthanaraynan, executive director (finance), said: "We have done well in a bad quarter. One, the gross operating margin had increased and the total interest component for the nine months ended had fallen both in absolute terms and as a percentage of revenue."
Interest during the nine months ended December 2001 declined by 6.6 per cent to Rs 64.4 crore as against Rs 60.21 crore in April-December 2000.
He explained the fall in interest component was more than the general fall in interest owing to-arbitrage and financial re-engineering.
However, interest component in the third quarter increased by 13.4 per cent to Rs 20.8 crore because of increase in credit period by 6 days to 45 days and increased inventory of Rs 200 crore on expectation of orders from state transport undertakings in the last quarter.
5 models in next two years:
Buoyed by the response in the recently held Auto Expo 2002 in New Delhi, Ashok Leyland is planning to introduce three new trucks, a new range of inter-city luxury bus and a hybrid electric bus over the next two years.
For Luxury bus, the company spokesperson said that IRIZAR- TVS, a joint venture company, would start producing the two high-end luxury coaches displayed in Auto Expo by end 2002. The three trucks were: Artik 3518, a high-powered tractor (35 tonne); Ecomet 910, a lower-end medium duty vehicle (MDV); and Logix 509, a light commercial vehicle (LCV) with a carrying capacity of 5 tonne.