The country's largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp Friday reported 24.5 per cent fall in its standalone net profit at Rs 730.32 crore for the fourth quarter of 2018-19 on account of lower sales in a sluggish market.
The company had posted a net profit of Rs 967.40 crore during the fourth quarter of 2017-18.
Revenue from operations also declined by 7.92 per cent to Rs 7,884.96 crore from Rs 8,564.04 crore in the year-ago period.
The company sold 17,81,160 units during January-March, down 11.1 per cent from 20,01,595 units sold in the same period of 2017-18.
For the fiscal 2018-19, the company reported a net profit of Rs 3,384.87 crore, down 8.45 per cent from Rs 3,697.36 crore in 2017-18.
Revenue from operations for the fiscal stood at Rs 33,650.54 crore, up 2.36 per cent from Rs 32,871.82 in 2017-18.
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Hero MotoCorp sold 78,20,745 units in 2018-19 as compared with 75,87,154 units in 2017-18.
"It is a testimony to our grit and resilience that we registered record sales of 7.8 million units during the fiscal, amidst a sluggish market scenario in several geographies and maintained our leadership amidst challenging market environments," Hero MotoCorp Chairman Pawan Munjal said in a statement.
While the near-term prospect of the domestic two-wheeler market is likely to remain challenging, the festive season is expected to brighten the sentiment and revive growth in the second half of 2019-20, he added.
The auto major said it is gearing up to launch its range of BS VI-compliant motorcycles and scooters well before the given timeline of April 1, 2020.
"The current fiscal (2019-20) is expected to be yet another challenging year in view of the upcoming stringent emission norms of BS VI," it added.
The company's board recommended a final dividend of Rs 32 per equity share of Rs 2 each (1,600 per cent) for 2018-19. On January 31, 2019, it had recommended an interim dividend of Rs 55 per share of Rs 2 each for the fiscal.
"This dividend, together with the interim dividend 2,750 per cent, Rs 55 per equity share of Rs 2 each already paid to the members, would aggregate to 4,350 per cent," Hero MotoCorp said.
Shares of Hero MotoCorp Friday ended 0.51 per cent lower at Rs 2,604.15 per scrip on the BSE.
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