Ashok Leyland Q4 results: Profit drops 17% to Rs 751 crore; firm declares Rs 2.60 dividend

Ashok Leyland, the Hinduja Group flagship, on Tuesday said its profit after tax for the March quarter fell 16.64 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 751 crore compared with a Rs 901 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. The profit fell due to a high base, as the year-ago quarter saw one-off exceptional gains of Rs 468 crore.

Excluding such one-off gain, profit for Ashok Leyland was up 73 per cent for the March quarter over the year-ago's Rs 433 crore (normalised) profit. Revenue for the quarter rose 33 per cent YoY to Rs 11,626 crore compared with Rs 8,744 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Ebitda margin for the quarter came in at 11 per cent for the quarter compared with 8.9 per cent in the year-ago quarter. Ashok Leyland said its market share in the truck segment improved to 32.7 per cent for the quarter compared with 30.6 per cent in the year-ago quarter. Market share for the bus segment improved to 27.1 per cent against 26.4 per cent YoY.

Managing Director & CEO Shenu Agarwal said while Ashok Leyland will continue to pursue better realisations even as we expand market share, its resolute focus would remain on bringing deeper efficiency and cost improvement.

"We have generated close to Rs 2,287 crore of cash this quarter owing to better profits and focused management of working capital, which gives us ability to further accelerate our investment in future products and technologies. "

The company has recommended a dividend of Rs 2.60 per equity share for FY23.

Executive Chairman Dheeraj Hinduja said, "The CV industry is buoyant due to favourable macroeconomic factors and a healthy demand from the end-user industries. This trend is expected to continue alongside growth in core sectors such as construction & mining, agriculture, increased capital outlay for infrastructure projects and pent-up replacement demand. The focus on International operations, defence, power solutions and parts businesses will continue to balance the volatility of our core business."

For the quarter, Ashok Leyland's domestic LCV volumes grew 18 per cent to 18,840 units against 15,971 units YoY. Cash generated during the quarter was Rs 2,287 crore and the  net cash surplus stood at Rs 243 crore against a net debt of Rs 720 crore for the same period last year.

Ashok Leyland said its export volumes stood at 11,289 units, on a full year basis despite geopolitical headwinds. This was higher than last year's l1,014 units.

"This performance was backed by the successful AVTR range and the launch of the CNG range in ICVs. The AVTR platform has been delivering best-in-class total cost of ownership across segments. In the LCV segment, both Dost and Bada Dost continues to perform very well. Going forward, last-mile connectivity demand propelled bye-commerce is likely to support LCV truck volumes. The company has also extended its widespread network by opening 152 new outlets across the country," Ashok Leyland said.

With the momentum gradually picking up in electric vehicles, Hinduja said Switch Mobility is well poised to complement the developments at Ashok Leyland across a spectrum of alternate propulsion systems

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