Rising competition in the motorcycle market is continuously hurting two-wheeler market leader Hero MotoCorp’s quarterly profit as the company of Friday reported 4.86 per cent decline in its net profit at Rs574.23 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2013, its third successive fall in quarterly profits.
The company had registered a net profit of Rs603.59 crore during the corresponding period last year, Hero MotoCorp (HMC) said in a statement.
However, the company's net income during the fourth quarter of FY2012-13 went up by 1.84 per cent to Rs6,145.75 crore from Rs6,034.93 crore in the year-ago period, it added.
During the January-March, 2013 quarter, HMC sold a total of 15,27,351 two-wheelers, down 2.84 per cent from 15,72,027 units in the year-ago period.
For the entire 2012-13 financial year, HMC posted a fall of 10.93 per cent in its net profit at Rs2,118.16 crore as against Rs2,378.13 crore in the previous fiscal, the statement said.
The company's net income, however, rose marginally to Rs 23,768.11 crore in FY'13 from Rs 23,579.03 crore in FY'12.
Total vehicle sales of the company during last fiscal fell by 2.56 per cent to 60,75,583 units from 62,35,205 units in 2011-12.
In its meeting on Friday, the Board of the Directors recommended a dividend of 3,000 per cent, which is Rs60 per equity share of Rs2 each for the financial year 2012-13.
Commenting on the numbers, Hero MotoCorp Managing Director and CEO Pawan Munjal said: "FY'13 has been a rough year for the overall Indian auto sector. Weak macroeconomic sentiment, coupled with subdued consumer confidence adversely impacted the industrial growth and sales volumes."
Considering the current environment, the auto sector is having tough time in India and Hero MotoCorp is cautiously optimistic about the growth prospects in the near-term, he added.
Talking about the outlook, Munjal said: "...Having sold over 60 lakh two-wheelers in just 12 months, we have sustained our performance during the period.
"Being the industry leader, we have planned major initiatives to boost the industry sentiment and accelerate growth in the new financial year, mainly through new launches, campaigns, capacity addition and network expansion."