Maruti Q4 earnings drop 35%; posts best-ever annual profit

In a tough market, the country's largest car-maker Maruti Suzuki India today posted a 35.46 per cent decline in net profit to Rs 800.05 crore in the fourth quarter ended December 31.
For the full financial year 2013-14, it registered its highest annual net profit.
The company had reported a profit of Rs 1,239.62 crore in the fourth quarter of the previous financial year.
Net sales in the quarter declined 9.48 per cent to Rs 11,818.13 crore from Rs 13,056.26 crore a year earlier, Maruti Suzuki India said in a statement.
Lower volumes, higher sales promotion expenses and payment of compensation to dealers due to a reduction in excise duty affected the bottom line during the quarter, the company said.

"The lowering of profit in the fourth quarter was partly due to dealer compensation due to excise duty cut," Maruti Suzuki India Chairman RC Bhargava told reporters here. The compensation to dealers worked out to Rs 143 crore.

Sales volumes dropped 5.48 per cent to 3,24,870 vehicles during the quarter.
However, the company's consolidated net profit for the financial year ended March 31 rose 15.53 per cent to Rs 2,852.92 crore, its highest ever, compared with Rs 2,469.28 crore in 2012-13.
The previous highest annual profit was in 2009-10, when the company posted earnings of Rs 2,497.6 crore.
Net sales for 2013-14 stood at Rs 43,271.78 crore as against Rs 43,215.83 crore in the earlier fiscal.