Amara Raja Batteries Q4 results: Consolidated profit rises 41% to Rs 139 cr

Amara Raja Batteries, on Tuesday, posted a consolidated net profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 139 crore for the March quarter. This is 40.61 per cent rise from Rs 98.85 crore a year ago, the company statement said.

The company’s consolidated revenue from operation rose by 11.37 per cent to Rs 2,429 crore for the March quarter as compared to Rs 2,181 crore in the year-ago period.

In a regulatory filing, the company said, “the board of directors recommended a final dividend of Rs 3.20 per equity share (representing 320%) of Rs 1 each fully paid up for the financial year 2022-23, subject to approval of the shareholders at the 38th Annual General Meeting of the Company.”

“The dividend will be paid within 30 days from the date of declaration of final dividend by the shareholders at the 38th Annual General Meeting. The final dividend is in addition to the Interim Dividend of Rs 2.90 per equity share (representing 290%) declared by the Board on November 3, 2022,” the company said in a BSE filing.

Amara Raja, which caters to automotive and industrial demand for power storage, manufactures lead-acid batteries, with Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and Bajaj Auto among its clients.

Auto ancillary companies benefit from strong automobile sales, which steadily improved during the quarter supported by easing chip shortages, festive demand and fervent pre-buying before tighter fuel emission norms are set in place.

An accelerated pace of 5G rollouts across the country has also improved demand for the company's industrial battery segment, which caters to telecoms equipment manufacturers and other industry segments including power, oil and gas.

However, Amara Raja Batteries' total expenses rose about 7 per cent to Rs 2,213 crore during the quarter.

Earlier this month, bigger rivals Eveready Industries posted a smaller loss, while Exide Industries missed Q4 profit estimates on higher raw material costs.

Shares of Amara Raja Batteries closed 0.1 per cent higher ahead of results on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, Amara Raja Batteries Limited launched the first Gigafactory in Telangana. Considered to be one of India's largest gigafactory, it will manufacture lithium-ion batteries, with a planned investment of Rs 9,500 crore over the next 10 years.

According to media reports, the work was commenced following a ceremony at Divitipalli in Mahabubnagar district in the presence of state IT and industries minister K T Rama Rao, who also laid the foundation stone. The ceremony on Saturday marked the beginning of Amara Raja Giga Corridor which plans to manufacture lithium cell and battery packs with a capacity of up to 16 Gigawatt hours (GWh) and up to 5 GWh respectively.

K T Rama Rao called it a big step forward in electrifying Telangana's ambitions to be a hub for electric vehicles and sustainable mobility. He further added that this is the largest investment in India in this sector.

Back in December 2022, the state government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Amara Raja Advanced Cell Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (ARACT), a wholly owned subsidiary of ARBL. During the signing of the MoU, the company announced it would cost Rs 9,500 crore in a phased manner over the course of the next ten years.

According to reports, during the first phase, the company would invest between Rs 1,500 crore to Rs 2,000 crore. The funds will be arranged through the company's internal sources and it is expected to be completed within two to three years.

(With inputs from Reuters)