The company announced Q3 results after market hours on Monday, 28 January 2013.
Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was down 38.73 points or 0.19% at 20,064.62.
On BSE, 2.25 lakh shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 77,149 shares in the past one quarter.
The stock hit a high of Rs 319.75 so far during the day, which is a record high for the counter. The stock hit a low of Rs 308 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 101 on 30 January 2012.
The stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 28 January 2013, surging 24.9% compared with the Sensex's 3.39% rise. The scrip had also outperformed the market in past one quarter, jumping 31.89% as against Sensex's 7.94% surge.
The mid-cap company has equity capital of Rs 17.08 crore. Face value per share is Re 1.
Commenting on the company's Q3 performance, Mr. Jayadev Galla, Managing Director, Amara Raja Batteries said, "I am happy to report double digit growth both in top-line and bottom-line despite slack demand from OE customers in automotive segment, supply challenges for want of capacities in all product lines except 2W batteries, and cost escalations. The company is keeping a close watch on cost increases due to power shortage, power tariff hike, rising commodity and fuel prices, and volatility in currency markets. The company is confident of its growth prospects and hence continues to invest on capacities and products to support market leading growth in the medium and long term".
Mr. Ravi Bhamidipati, Executive Director, Amara Raja Batteries said, "To capitalize on the growth opportunities ahead of us, we decided to invest Rs 440 crore to augment capacities in Large VRLA and automotive 4-wheeler product lines over a period of 16 to 18 months. This investment is in addition to already approved capital investment of Rs 304 crore to expand capacities in Medium VRLA, automotive 4-wheeler and automotive 2-wheeler product lines".
Commenting on the Q3 performance, Mr. K. Suresh, Chief Financial Officer, Amara Raja Batteries said, "We continue to enjoy debt free status with free cash of over Rs 350 crore as on 31 December 2012. The capacity expansion programs undertaken in the last 12 months are progressing as per schedule. The market capitalization of the company touched Rs 5000 crore aided by stellar performance during the last 6 quarters and growing confidence of investors".
Giving details of the segment-wise performance, Amara Raja batteries said that the Automotive battery business reported strong double digit growth both in volumes and revenue in Q3 December 2012 despite depressed OE demand and capacity constraints in automotive 4W batteries during the quarter. The strong growth in volumes of 4-wheeler and 2-wheeler batteries was supported by focused action around the brand, channel and customer relationship, the company said. The consumer preference for brand Amaron and PowerZone continues to provide market share gain in aftermarket due to its product offering coupled with endurance and quality, Amara Raja said. With aftermarket demand expected to pick up in FY 2014, the company expects to grow above the industry average in the near future. The company is all set to commence supply of 2W batteries to OEMs in couple of months. The pan-India consumer response to Amaron and PowerZone branded Home UPS products has been very promising and this business will aid in revenue and profit growth of the company in the years to come, Amara Raja said in a statement.
The industrial battery business has reported double digit revenue growth enabled by improved demand from telecom market and reasonable volume growth both in telecom and UPS segments, Amara Raja said. The company could not fully capitalize on the growing demand and preference for its telecom (PowerStack) and UPS (Quanta) batteries for want of capacity. The company continues to enjoy preferred supplier status with telecom and UPS customers and would further fortify this position by providing end-to-end solutions and leveraging its reach through partners in the business, Amara Raja said. The MVRLA capacity expansion is progressing as per schedule and is confident of meeting the growing demand from the new plant effective Q3 of the next financial year, Amara Raja said. The company has secured consent of the board to expand Large VRLA product line capacity to cater to growing demand in telecom in the near future and to exploit export opportunities in the long run.
Amara Raja Batteries' board of directors at a meeting held on Monday, 28 January 2013, approved capital expenditure (capex) of Rs 440 crore to augment manufacturing capacities of Large VRLA and Four Wheeler batteries.
Amara Raja Batteries is one of the largest manufacturers of lead acid batteries for both industrial and automotive applications in the Indian storage battery industry. Amara Raja is the preferred supplier to major telecom service providers, telecom equipment manufacturers, UPS sector (OEM & Replacement), Indian Railways and to Power, Oil & Gas among other industry segments. Amara Raja is a leading manufacturer of automotive batteries under the brands Amaron and PowerZone, which are distributed through a large pan-India sales & service retail network. The company supplies automotive batteries under OE relationships to Ashok Leyland, Ford India, Honda, Hyundai, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, and Tata Motors. The company's Industrial and Automotive batteries are exported to Asia Pacific, Africa and Middle East.
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