TVS Motors net up 7% in nine months

TVS Motors has reported a 7 per cent rise in net profit to 96.56 crore in the nine months ended December 31, 2003, compared with Rs 90.11 crore in the comparable previous period. This was on a 4 per cent rise in sales to Rs 2,127 crore.

For the quarter ended December 31, 2003, the company posted an 18 per cent drop in net profit to Rs 27.50 crore as against Rs 32.48 crore previously. Net sales showed negative growth for the quarter by 2 per cent at Rs 672. 09 crore, compared with Rs 706.79 crore.

Venu Srinivasan, CMD of TVS Motors, said the next quarter will be better because of the introduction of the Centra, an executive segment bike. He expects the performance to mirror last fiscal's Q4 show. TVS' lack of representation in the entry segment with just a two-stroke Max 100 in its portfolio seems to have hurt sales since the past 6 months.

To redress this, by June, the company is introducing a new four-stroke Max, which with a price tag of around Rs 30,000. The company has an EBIDTA of 10 per cent, which Srinivasan expects to push up to 15 per cent in two years.