India's Eicher Motors, which makes the Royal Enfield brand of motorcycles, reported a bigger-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday, helped by increased sales of its higher-capacity models such as the 'Himalayan'.
The company said its net profit rose 8.3 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1,100 crore ($130.40 million) in the three months to Sept.
30.
That beat analysts' average estimate of Rs 1,066 crore, as per data compiled by LSEG.
Eicher logged a more-than-36 per cent year-over-year rise in the quarter for the sale of its motorcycles with engine capacity above 350cc such as the 'Interceptor 650', helped by demand from its main demographic, urban consumers.
These higher margin motorcycles accounted for 15.3 per cent of total sales, compared to 11.1 per cent last quarter.
This countered the 12 per cent fall in domestic sales of motorcycles of engine capacity up to 350cc like the 'Hunter 350', which make for a majority of its sales.
Total revenue from operations, rose 3.6 per cent to Rs 4,263 crore in the quarter.
Eicher, which also makes trucks and buses in a joint venture with the Volvo Group, said total expenses rose 5.8 per cent to Rs 2,269 crore.
Rival Bajaj Auto posted a 21 per cent rise in second-quarter adjusted profit last month, while Hero Motocorp is due to report its quarterly results on Thursday.
Eicher's shares closed down 3.2 per cent before quarterly results were reported.