INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
NEW DELHI: Maruti Suzuki reported a 17.2 per cent drop in net profit for the third quarter, as expenses towards raw materials, marketing and
release of the earnings, which missed market expectations, hitting a 21-month low of Rs 6,420 intraday on the Bombay Stock Exchange Friday
They closed 7.4 per cent down at Rs 6,516.35.
Maruti posted a profit of Rs 1,489 crore for the quarter through December, compared with Rs
1,799 crore a year earlier
Analysts tracked by Bloomberg were on average expecting Rs 1,695 crore
Net sales remained almost flat at Rs 18,926.4 crore, compared with Rs 18,940 crore a year earlier.
The results come a month after Maruti
Suzuki warned that it would not be able to meet the doubledigit-growth target the company had set for itself for the fiscal year, due to
costs to consumers.
On Friday, the company said higher expenses in resources and planned capacities also weighed on its performance for the
past quarter.
In its filing with the stock exchanges, Maruti Suzuki said several adverse factors had come together, hurting profitability
supplier partners, Maruti Suzuki said
Total expenses for the period increased 9.2 per cent to Rs 18,525.5 crore.
Bharat Gianani, a research analyst at Sharekhan, said the
While the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers had projected 8-10 per cent growth in the domestic passenger-vehicle market for this
fiscal year, the industry could grow by only 4.4 per cent in the first three quarters, it said
In fact, in the third quarter through December, industry sales had declined 0.8 per cent, it added.
Sales expanded 7.2 per cent in the first
In the third quarter, wholesale volume grew a mere 0.4 per cent.
The company said it helped dealers retail about 90,000 vehicles in excess
of the wholesale numbers to keep their inventories lean, as festive season sales were below expectations
The company said it sold 4,28,643 vehicles in the past quarter.
