Apollo Tyres, India’s second largest tyre manufacturer by tonnage, posted an 18-fold increase in net profit at Rs 102 crore for the quarter ended December 31, as compared to Rs 5.5 crore in the same quarter a year earlier.
However, the jump is primarily a result of the low base. In the last financial year, margins of all tyre companies were impacted, due to lower demand.
Net sales of the company for the reporting period increased by 46.5 per cent to Rs 1,323 crore, as against Rs 903 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.
Raw material consumption as a percentage to sales saw a significant drop to Rs 799 crore, or 60 per cent, as compared to Rs 700 crore, or 76 per cent, in the corresponding quarter last year. Total expenditure went up 31 per cent to Rs 1,147 crore, as compared to Rs 874 crore.
The company said its new factory at Chennai is expected to be commissioned in the first quarter of next financial year.