Hinduja group flagship Ashok Leyland on Thursday reported a 58.1% decline in consolidated net profit to ₹157.85 crore in the fourth quarter ended March, impacted by higher expenses.
The commercial vehicles maker posted revenue from operations at ₹9,926.97 crore compared with ₹8,142.11 crore a year earlier.
Total expenses were higher at ₹9,429.55 crore compared with ₹7,831.21 crore, with cost of materials and services shooting up to ₹6,580.81 crore from ₹5,481.04 crore.
Exceptional items grew to ₹266.71 crore, including impairment in value of goodwill and net assets of subsidiaries, loss of valuation of investment and voluntary retirement scheme.
The company said its board has recommended dividend of ₹1 per share for the financial year ended March 31, 2022.
For the full fiscal 2021-22, the company's consolidated net loss widened to ₹285.45 crore from a loss of ₹69.6 crore.
Revenue from operations for the fiscal grew to ₹26,237.15 crore from ₹19,454.1 crore in FY21.
“We have seen recovery in Q4 FY’22 and the overall performance has been very good,” Ashok Leyland Executive Chairman Dheeraj Hinduja said. “The CV industry is on a recovery owing to the improvement in the macroeconomic environment and healthy demand from the end-user industries,” he added.
The MHCV (medium and heavy commercial vehicle) segment is leading the recovery, riding on the back of growth in core sectors such as construction and mining, agriculture, increased capital outlay for infrastructure projects and pent-up replacement demand, he added.
Light commercial vehicles volumes, driven by increased demand for last-mile connectivity, especially from the e-commerce segment, are expected to grow further, Mr. Hinduja said.
Looking ahead, he said, "We are keenly following commodity prices, and the situation on the supply of semi-conductors and hope that both will ease."
