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Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, the country’s largest passenger carmaker, on Tuesday reported a 36 per cent rise in net profit for the third quarter ended December 31 at ₹681 crore compared with ₹501 crore in the year-ago period.
“Higher localisation, favourable foreign exchange and a cost reduction initiative by the company contributed significantly to the net profit,” the carmaker said.
However, net sales dropped 3 per cent to ₹10,619 crore from ₹10,956 crore.
Vehicle sales during the quarter also dropped 4.4 per cent to 2.88 lakh units (3.01 lakh units) and remained under stress during the period, in both domestic and export markets, it added.
According to analysts, the company reported stronger-than-expected results. “While the top line was broadly in line with our estimates, bottom line at ₹681 crore was higher than our estimates of ₹620 crore due to better-than-expected EBITDA margins at 12.4 per cent,” said Yaresh Kothari, Research Analyst at Angel Broking.
Discount price To improve sales, Maruti Suzuki moved up the average discount price of the vehicles to ₹19,000 during the quarter, compared with ₹12,500 in the same period in 2012, said Ajay Seth, Chief Financial Officer. The domestic market share stood at 42.8 per cent during the quarter, a gain of 2.5 per cent over the third quarter in 2012.
EPS up Earnings per share rose to ₹22.55 from ₹17.35 a year ago.
On Tuesday, the shares closed at ₹1,563.20 on the BSE, down 8.12 per cent from the previous close.
>ronendrasingh.s@thehindu.co.in
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