BENGALURU (Reuters) – Indian truck maker Ashok Leyland beat fourth-quarter profit estimates on Friday as reduced costs outweighed beleaguered demand for its trucks and buses.
Standalone profit rose 19.8% to 9 billion rupees ($108.36 million) for the three months to March 31, surpassing analysts’ estimates of 8.69 billion rupees, according to LSEG data.
Input costs came off a high base last year as manufacturers globally battled higher transportation and raw material costs amid conflicts and the lingering impact of the pandemic.
Ashok Leyland’s input and services costs dropped 7.3% and brought down total expenses by 6.5% to 99.14 billion rupees.
Meanwhile, commercial vehicle sales floundered on poor agricultural yield and higher discounts and were coming off a high base.
Ashok Leyland’s total sales volume fell nearly 6% in the January-March period, as per its monthly sales data, driving a 3.1% fall in its revenue to 112.67 billion rupees.
Sales volume of commercial vehicles for market leaders Tata Motors and Eicher Motors, which makes trucks and buses under a joint venture with Volvo, had also fallen in the quarter.
The segment, however, is a smaller business for both. Tata Motors and Eicher’s profit climbs were on the back of their respective premium vehicle sales – Jaguar Land Rover and Royal Enfield.
Ashok Leyland’s shares rose as much as 3.3% to a record high after the results.
($1 = 83.0546 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Varun Hebbalalu and Meenakshi Maidas in Bengaluru; Editing by Sohini Goswami)
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