 "Apollo Tyres")
BENGALURU (Reuters) - Indian tyre maker Apollo Tyres Ltd. reported a nearly four-fold rise in fourth-quarter profit on Tuesday, beating estimates, aided by lower rubber costs and strong domestic auto sales.
The company's consolidated profit nearly quadrupled to 4.27 billion rupees ($52.21 million) in the quarter ended March 31 from 1.13 billion rupees a year earlier.
Analysts, on average, had estimated a profit of 3.44 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
Softening rubber costs and strong vehicle sales in India in the first three months of the year have benefited Indian tyre makers, including MRF Ltd and Ceat Ltd.
Analysts said that the price hikes also helped the companies bolster their margins, with Ceat reporting a five-fold jump in profit and MRF reporting its profit more than doubled for the quarter ended March 31.
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Apollo's revenue from operations rose 12% to 62.47 billion rupees as the cost of materials consumed fell around 11.2% compared to the year-ago quarter.
The company's total expenses, however, rose about 5.6% year-over-year.
Sales in the Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa (APMEA), the company's biggest segment, increased nearly 10%.
Apollo also recommended a final dividend of 4 rupees per share.
($1 = 81.7800 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Anisha Ajith in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
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