BENGALURU (Reuters) – Maruti Suzuki, India’s top carmaker by sales, posted first-quarter profit above market expectations on Wednesday, helped by increasing demand for its sport utility vehicles (SUV), which sent its shares up 3.9%.
The ‘Brezza’ SUV manufacturer’s standalone profit for the April-June quarter grew 47% to 36.5 billion rupees ($436 million), topping analysts’ estimates of 33.20 billion rupees, per LSEG data.
Maruti is one of the first carmakers in India to report results in a quarter where car sales have hit a two-year low as India’s general elections and extreme heat hurt demand. The company’s sales also grew at their slowest pace in nine quarters.
Still, Maruti reported a 29% rise in SUV sales, enough to boost revenue by 9.8% to 338.75 billion rupees.
The share of SUV sales in Maruti’s overall sales grew to 31% from 25% a year ago, making it the company’s second-biggest segment after compact cars.
Rival Mahindra & Mahindra, which also makes SUVs, posted a bigger adjusted profit earlier in the day.
($1 = 83.7234 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Varun Hebbalalu and Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)
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