Wheels India, a TVS Group company, has reported a net profit of Rs.8.73 crore on revenue of Rs.465.38 crore for the quarter ended September, 2013. The company reported a net profit of Rs.8.60 crore on revenue of Rs.496.51 crore in the same quarter last year.
The company reported a net profit of Rs.15.51 crore on revenue of Rs.915.51 crore for the half-year ended September, 2013. It reported a net profit of Rs.17.53 crore on revenue of Rs.1,016.12 crore in the same period last year.
Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, Srivats Ram, Managing Director, said the operating environment had been challenging with slowdown in domestic and international markets. Giving a broad overview of the business environment, Mr. Ram said the commercial vehicle and construction and mining segments had been witnessing a big drop. On the commercial vehicle front, he said, “we don’t see light at the end of the tunnel.’’ He saw no ‘movement’ on the passenger car front. He said improvement on the construction and mining space would take a while to happen. “We have had discussions with customers in Japan and the U.S. The feedback from them is that the recovery is still 18 months away,’’ he said. The only silver lining “is the tractor segment’’, which had done well growing by 23 per cent in the first-half, he pointed out.
Fielding a range of questions, he said the company was hoping that the JNUURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission) scheme would roll out in the third quarter. “This is now more likely to happen in the fourth quarter,’’ he pointed out. The air-suspension business of Wheels India would benefit once the roll out happened, he added.
As part of the de-risking strategy, he said, the company would continue to lay much store by exports, focusing on aluminium steel and tractor segments. “We are consciously growing the non-wheel business such as fabrication for earth-moving equipment and air suspension businesses. We also make parts for thermal and wind sector,’’ he said. The third element of the strategy was to grow the after-market business. “We had launched WILGO last year. We have seen some kind of progress in the first year. We have built a foundation, and we will look to increase the number of products,’’ he said.
To a question, he said, “we have widened the range of products in exports market. When the international market comes back in 2015, we will be well poised to leverage that.’’
On the outlook for the reminder of the year, he said, “we are not expecting any major change in the auto or commercial vehicle sectors. We expect second-half to be on the lines of the first-half.’’
