Wheels India has reported double-digit growth in bottomline and single-digit increase in topline for the March quarter as well as for the full year amid fragmented recovery in the automotive market.

For the quarter ended March 31, the auto components firm reported net profit of ₹17 crore, compared with ₹7 crore in the year-ago period. Revenues grew 7 per cent to ₹536 crore (₹500 crore).

“There was substantial revenue growth in Q4 that resulted in increased profitability for the quarter. But there was some higher costs relating to foreign exchange losses in Q4 of 2014-15. Hence the two quarters are not strictly comparable,” said Srivats Ram, MD. For the full year ended March 31, the company’s net profit grew 34 per cent at ₹40 crore (₹30 crore). Revenues grew 2 per cent to ₹2,018 crore (₹1,982 crore).

Strong recovery in the commercial vehicle sector aided the company’s topline during the year. The company gets half its revenues from wheels for commercial and passenger vehicles. Revenue growth was in low singe digit due to poor offtake in other segments such as tractors, passenger vehicles and exports. Its non-wheels business contributed around 15 per cent of the revenue. Capacity utilisation is improving significantly in the commercial vehicles (CV) segment, said Ram. “We will invest around ₹60-70 crore this year in debottlenecking of capacities, especially in CV, and towards automation and improving cost efficiencies,” he added.

He also said lift axles was seeing strong growth from April and will be an important driver of growth in addition to CV this fiscal.

However, tractor revival is important. If there is good monsoon, there should be good growth in the tractor segment this year, after successive years of de-growth, he said. The board has declared a final dividend of ₹5.50 per share.

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