Ashok Leyland share hits record high on bagging new order

Shares of Ashok Leyland rallied more than 5% in early trade on Thursday, in an otherwise bearish broader market, to hit a fresh 52-week high after the auto major secured an order from UAE. The flagship brand of the Hinduja Group has bagged orders from major fleets for 1,400 school buses in the UAE, which is the company's largest ever school bus order.

Riding high on securing new orders, Ashok Leyland share price opened 1.2% higher at ₹155.90, against the previous closing price of ₹154 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). In the first two-hour of trade so far, the large-cap auto stock gained as much as 5.03% to hit a 52-week high of ₹161.75, driven by strong volume. The stock breached its previous high of ₹158.15 touched on August 1, 2022.

There was a more than two-fold rise in volume trade as 18.09 lakh shares changed hands over the counter as compared to the two-week average volume of 7.93 lakh stocks. The market capitalisation increased to ₹47,247.31 crore. In comparison, the BSE benchmark Sensex was trading 368 points lower at 59,169 levels, tracking weak cues from global peers.

The counter has rallied 73% in the last six months, from its 52-week low of 93.20 on March 8, 2022, to ₹161.75 intraday today. The auto stock has given 31% returns in the past one year and 36% over a six month period. In the calendar year 2022, the share price has risen 31%, while it rose over 4% in the last one month.

The stock turned ‘Bullish’ from ‘Mildly Bullish’ on August 23 at ₹146.60 and currently trades higher than 5-day, 20-day, 50-day, 100-day, and 200-day moving averages.

Ashok Leyland, the world’s 4th largest bus manufacturer, has secured the order through its UAE distribution partners, Swaidan Trading - Al Naboodah Group. The deal is estimated to be worth AED 276 million ($75.15 million).

As per the deal, the auto major will supply GCC-made buses to Emirates Transport and STS Group. The 55-seater Falcon bus and 32-seater Oyster bus will be supplied from Ashok Leyland’s manufacturing facility in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE. The Ras Al Khaimah plant is a joint venture between Ashok Leyland and the Ras Al Khaimah Investment Authority (RAKIA), UAE, and has an installed capacity of 4,000 buses a year.

Terming the deal as historic, Dheeraj Hinduja, Executive Chairman, said, “This is a testament to the reliability, durability, and robustness of our buses and reaffirms the faith that our customers have in our buses being the safest for transporting school students.”

“These products are made in the UAE assembly plant. The product concepts originate in the UAE, the designs are done by our engineers in UAE and are assembled in the factory in UAE, with more than 55% of parts sourced in UAE,” he added.

Last month, Ashok Leyland’s electric vehicle arm Switch Mobility launched India’s first electric double-decker air-conditioned bus, Switch EiV 22, priced at around ₹2 crore. The world’s first semi-low floor bus has been designed, developed and manufactured in India by utilising Switch’s global electric bus experience.