Indian bikemaker, Bajaj Auto has reported an increase in standalone net profit of 10.48% for third quarter that ended on December 31, 2013 at 904.55 crore. The scores are said to be the highest in comparison to any previous quarter. Unit volume sales took a dip by 11.8% during the third quarter of this fical to 9,93,690 units as against 11,27,741 units recorded in the year-ago period.
As per sources, the company's standalone profit was approximate Rs 818.74 crore during the previous corresponding year. But it is also said that, Bajaj's total income from sales declined to Rs. 5,131.24 crore for the quarter under consideration from Rs 5,412.71 crore that was earned for the same period around a year back. Officials from Bajaj Auto stated, “Sales during festive period, though reasonable, were not robust. Subsequently, in November and December, industry sales continued to remain sluggish. In this environment, Bajaj Auto has declared an industry high EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) margin of 21.1 per cent in Q3/FY 2014 as against 19.8 per cent in Q3/FY 2013 and its the highest ever quarterly profit”.
Sluggish sales have been linked to an increase in input cost of steel, aluminum and other imported components. Revenue generated through exports during the quarter stood at Rs 2,123 crore as against Rs 1,719 crore in the same period recorded during last fiscal, in terms of percentage it is a good 23.5 %. Bajaj auto shares have reported BSE trading at Rs. 1907.35 per script during per lunch period. This number has gone up in comparison to previous day's 0.63 % closing.
Reuters had reported that, Bajaj gained a healthy 10.5% increase in their quarterly net profit. This is said to have resulted from foreign exchange gains, and higher revenues from exports have helped offset weak demand for its vehicles. More than a third of sales is from Bajaj Auto and the net profit reported for October-December quarter was 9.05 billion rupees as compared to 8.19 billion rupees a year ago.
Bajaj auto being a key player in the Indian bike market, it is expected that the company may fair well on charts even for the year 2014.
