Riding on good domestic motorcycle sales, Bajaj Auto on Friday reported 19.82% increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,408.49 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2019. The company posted a profit of Rs 1,175.47 crore in the year-ago period, Bajaj Auto said in a regulatory filing.
Total revenue from operations for the period under review stood at Rs 7,395.19 crore as against Rs 6,788.43 crore in the year-ago quarter, it said. In the fourth quarter, the company’s total sales were up 14% at 11,93,590 units as against 10,45,378 units in the same period previous year, it said.
Commenting on the performance, Bajaj Auto Executive Director Rakesh Sharma said in a conference call that the motorcycle segment, particularly in the domestic market, has done well even as the company faced headwinds in the commercial vehicles three-wheeler segment.
During the quarter, the company clocked 23% rise in domestic bike sales at 6,10,094 units as against 4,97,587 units in the year-ago period. He said Bajaj Auto did well in the entry-level and top-end premium sports segment. Motorcycle exports during the quarter stood at 3,91,889 units as against 3,58,802 units in the year-ago period. Commercial vehicle sales were down 16 per cent at 1,02,258 units as against 1,22,229 units in the fourth quarter previous fiscal. For the year ended March 31, 2019, the company’s profit was at Rs 4,927.61 crore as against Rs 4,218.95 crore in the previous year, a growth of 16.79 per cent. Total revenue from operations for the year was at Rs 30,249.96 crore as against Rs 25,617.27 crore in the previous fiscal.
Commenting on new product launches, Sharma said in the next three to four months Bajaj Auto would bring upgrades of some of its existing models. Besides, he said the company was working on electric options for all the formats of vehicles that it has in its portfolio — two and three-wheelers along with quadricycle. “We will this year certainly test the waters to see how the market and consumers respond to electric vehicles,” he said.