Truck and bus maker Ashok Leyland has increased its market share to about one-third from one-fourth in the past few years in the medium and heavy commercial vehicle (M&HCV) market.

“In the past four years, many players entered the M&HCV market and many more are waiting to enter. Despite difficult market conditions and increased competition, Ashok Leyland managed to improve its market share to 32 per cent from 25 per cent. It has not been an easy task,” said Dheeraj H Hinduja, Chairman, while addressing the company’s 68th annual general meeting here.

He said the company was well-prepared to face international competition as it had heavily invested in technology, quality and processes.

He assured the shareholders that it would try to reward them with a higher dividend if its strong growth continued for the next couple of years.

Responding to a question, Hinduja said Leyland engaged two independent valuers for the merger of Hinduja Foundries with Ashok Leyland in order to ensure that valuation was done in a satisfying manner for both Hinduja Foundries and AL shareholders.

For the first quarter ended June 30, the company’s net profit fell to ₹111 crore when compared with ₹291 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Gopal Mahadevan, Chief Financial Officer, attributed the drop in bottomline to a poor mix and lower topline due to the overall industry slowdown. In Q1 of last fiscal, it had a richer mix and exchange gain on swap contracts. “We see this as a temporary blip and going forward, we will able to catch up on profitability,” he said.

The company’s revenue stood at ₹4,514 crore against ₹4,531 crore in the Q1 of the previous fiscal.

Mahadevan also said its innovative iEGR technology for BS-IV engines had been well accepted by customers and the company would focus on ramping up sales.

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