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Bajaj Auto Profit Rises Most In A Year, Meeting Analyst Estimates

Bajaj Auto net profit rose 35 percent year-on-year to Rs 1,080 crore during January-March period.

Workers Assemble Motorcycles at Bajaj Discovery Assembly Line (Photographer: Santosh Verma/Bloomberg)
Workers Assemble Motorcycles at Bajaj Discovery Assembly Line (Photographer: Santosh Verma/Bloomberg)

Bajaj Auto Ltd. reported its highest quarterly profit growth in a year, meeting analyst estimates for the quarter ended March.

Net profit of the Pulsar manufacturer rose 34.7 percent year-on-year to Rs 1,080 crore, according to its filing with the stock exchanges. That's in line with Rs 1,047 crore estimated by analysts tracked by Bloomberg.

Revenue rose 38 percent on a yearly basis to Rs 6,773 crore, led by higher sales volume. The company sold 10.45 lakh units in the January-March period, an increase of 33 percent from the corresponding quarter last year, driven by healthy growth in the commercial vehicles segment.

“The company expects to clock 4 lakh sales each month during the current quarter,” President of Business Development and Assurance S Ravikumar told BloombergQuint in an interview. Bajaj Auto will be able to maintain domestic and export growth at levels seen in 2017-18, Ravikumar said, adding that he sees an 18 percent growth in exports in three-wheeler segment.

Other Highlights

  • Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 45 percent to Rs 1,315 crore
  • Operating margin expanded to 19.4 percent from 18.5 percent.
  • Bajaj Auto’s share in domestic motorcycle market stood at 16 percent.
  • Board approves dividend of Rs 60 per share.
  • Cash and cash equivalents as on March 2018 rose to Rs 15,542 crore from Rs 12,368 crore a year ago.

Shares of Bajaj Auto swung between gains and losses and traded at Rs 2,807 as of 2:30 p.m. The stock declined 17.7 percent during January-march period, posting its highest quarterly decline in a decade. That compares with 3.2 percent decline in the country's benchmark Sensex during the period.