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Amara Raja Batteries has posted a net profit of Rs 95.01 crore, up 17.04 per cent, for the third quarter against Rs 80.91 crore for the corresponding quarter last year.
The company’s sales income for the third quarter was up at Rs 859.95 crore against Rs 756.41 crore during the same quarter last year.
For the nine months ended December 31, 2013, the net sales were up at Rs 2,551.52 crore (Rs 2,160.33 crore) and the net profit shot up to Rs 287.39 crore (Rs 227.10 crore).
Jayadev Galla, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of Amara Raja Batteries, said that the good performance is heartening despite a challenging economy, volatile rupee and sluggish demand from automotive original equipment manufacturers and UPS segments.
Early signs of slowdown in the growth rate of four-wheeler automotive replacement segment require close watch and an innovative approach to sustain double-digit volume growth.
“The successful expansion of capacity for some of the battery segments and ongoing expansion initiatives in various product lines are expected to provide enough momentum to the growth in line with our plan,” he said.
The automotive battery business growth was aided by strong volume expansion in two-wheeler batteries and a marginal volume growth in four-wheeler batteries. While the OEM demand continued to be sluggish, an early sign of demand slowdown in four-wheeler replacement segment was visible in the third quarter, the company said.
Trading volume in home UPS business suffered due to unfavourable season and the industrial battery business reported flat volume during the quarter compared to the previous year due to capacity constraints and subdued demand for UPS batteries.
The company had on Wednesday commissioned an integrated MVRLA (medium value regulated lead acid) battery plant at Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh in the presence of Brian Kessler, President, Power Solutions, Johnson Controls Inc.
The trial runs and product validation process is under way and the plant is expected to commence supplies in full scale from March 2014 to support the growth momentum.
The company's shares were trading up at Rs 341.30, up 2.79 per cent on the BSE today.
rishikumar.vundi@thehindu.co.in
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