Bajaj Auto, on Thursday, announced a 45 per cent drop in net profit for the fourth quarter of 2011-12 at Rs.772 crore (Rs.1,400 crore) on 11 per cent higher turnover of Rs.4,791 crore. The operating profit improved by 13 per cent.
In a statement, Kevin D'Sa, President (Finance), said, “Despite input cost pressures, better realisation from exports enabled the company to declare an operating profit of Rs.972 crore and an operating margin of 20.7 per cent.”
Dividend
For the quarter, export revenue grew 40 per cent to Rs.1,477 crore.
For the whole of 2011-12, the board of the company recommended a dividend of Rs.45 per share. In 2011-12, the company reported a 11 per cent lower net profit of Rs.3,004 crore on a 19 per cent higher turnover of Rs.20,137 crore. The operating profit was up 18 per cent at Rs.4,001 crore and the operating margin at 20.2 per cent. Export revenue in 2011-12 grew 45 per cent to Rs.6,604 crore.
Industry watchers expect difficult times for the industry. “For Bajaj, the top line was disappointing, largely due to lowering of selling price,” said Surjit Arora, analyst, Prabhudas Lilladher, an equity research and broking firm.
“Also, exports could be hit with Sri Lanka recently doubling import duty on two- and three-wheelers. Sri Lanka accounts for about 10 per cent of Bajaj's motorcycle and almost half of its three-wheeler exports.”
