Net profit of truck and bus maker Ashok Leyland rose 37% year-on-year to ₹770 crore for the quarter ended September compared with ₹561 crore in the same quarter last year.
Revenue from operations dropped 9% to ₹8,769 crore for the second quarter as against ₹9,638 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) for the quarter was up 11.6% at ₹1,017 crore in Q2 FY25 compared with 11.2% (₹1,080 crore) in the corresponding period last year.
Ashok Leyland's domestic MHCV (medium and heavy commercial vehicle) market share continues to be over 31%. The company maintained market leadership in the bus segment. The light commercial vehicle domestic market share in the addressable segments has also gained in the first half of the year.
MHCV domestic sales volume was at 25,685 in Q2 FY25 vis-a-vis 29,947 in Q2 FY'24. LCV volume was at 16,629 vis-a-vis 16,998 in Q2 1ast year. Export volumes for the quarter at 3310 was higher by 14%. The Company continued to expand its product offerings in Q2 by launching new products in Tipper, Bus, Haulage and LCV segments. The focus on expansion of distribution network also continued.
“The Indian Economy is expected to do well in the second half which would benefit our industry. We remain optimistic about industry prospects for H2 on back of strong macroeconomic fundamentals, supported by resumption of Government spending in capex and good monsoons. Our robust all-round performance in Q2 is backed by our technological and cost leadership. Internationally as well, we are intensifying our expansion strategy in our focus markets of SAARC, Middle East, Africa and Asia, aimed at posting the best performance ever during this fiscal. We continue to invest in new products with alternative fuels. Switch is doing well with an order book of nearly 2000 buses,” says Dheeraj Hinduja, executive chairman, Ashok Leyland.
Owing to continued improvement in company's fiscal performance and a positive outlook for the balance half of the year, the Board has recommended an Interim Dividend of ₹2 per share.
"Our focus on profitability continues. We are happy that we could improve our profitability by focusing on premiumisation of our products, addressing cost compression opportunities, and continuously elevating our standards of customer service. Our PAT for Q2 FY25 is at an all-time high. Our EBITDA margins have improved both sequentially and on YoY basis, making this the seventh consecutive quarter of double-digit EBITDA. We are well on track to achieve mid-teen EBITDA in the medium term,” says Shenu Agarwal, managing director and CEO, Ashok Leyland.
