Bajaj Auto Q1 net profit remains flat

July 18, 2014 01:04 am | Updated 01:04 am IST - MUMBAI:

Bajaj Auto has reported a net profit of Rs.739.98 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2014, against Rs.737.68 crore in the year-ago period, below market expectation.

Net sales were higher at Rs.5,133.37 crore against Rs.4,808.73 crore. The company sold 9.88 lakh units of motorcycles and commercial vehicles in the first quarter against 9.79 lakh units in the same period last year.

Exports now contribute 44 per cent of net sales. The company during the quarter exported 3.84 lakh motorcycles and nearly 58,000 three-wheelers.

With increasing geographical footprint, the company witnessed 22 per cent growth in exports.

As on June 30, 2014, Bajaj Auto’s cash and cash equivalents stood at Rs.9,255 crore against Rs.7,759 crore as on April 1, 2014.

Commenting on the results, Arun Agarwal, auto analyst, Kotak Securities, said: “Bajaj Auto’s first quarter revenues grew by 7 per cent year-on-year and was on expected lines. However, at the operating margin front, there was some disappointment. Accordingly, adjusted net profit came in slightly below our estimates.”

“Hurt by sluggish sales volumes in the domestic market, Bajaj Auto reported disappointing numbers with revenues in line with our estimate. Margins were impacted by higher than expected raw material cost. Lower than expected margins resulted in profits at Rs.740 crore being sharply lower than our estimates of Rs.815 crore,” said Ravi Shenoy Assistant Vice President-Midcaps Research, Motilal Oswal Securities.

Reacting to the negligible growth in net profit, the Bajaj Auto stock, on Thursday, closed with a loss of 2.27 per cent at Rs.2,091.70 on the BSE.

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