Pune-headquartered Bajaj Auto's stock hit a new high of Rs 3,310 after the company announced a profit of Rs 1,112 crore in the second quarter. This profit, while being the second best in company's history, was a per cent lower to the Rs 1,123 crore it earned in Q2 of previous financial year.
Sales revenue for the quarter stood at Rs 6,461 crore as against Rs 6,327 crore last year. EBIDTA margin for the quarter declined to 20.8 per cent from 22.3 per cent last year. The company sold 918,721 motorcycles and 152,789 commercial vehicles (three-wheelers) in the quarter, showing an increase of 2 per cent and 14 per cent, respectively.
"Raw material price was subdued during the second quarter of previous year. This year raw materials and metals like steel and aluminum have firmed up leading to marginal drop in profit. But a margin of 20.8 per cent is good in the current environment," said S Ravikumar, president (business development) at Bajaj Auto. Kumar said the company is planning to sell four million vehicles (two and three wheelers) during the current financial year against 3.6 million in FY17.
Bajaj Auto reported better than expected operating results for Q2FY18. "Higher export sales and price hikes led to the margins coming closer to the 20 per cent mar,k thus beating ours as well as consensus estimates," said Bharat Gianani, Research Analyst - Auto/Auto Ancillaries, Sharekhan.
