Mahindra reported a better-than-expected second-quarter profit on Friday, driven by strong demand for its passenger vehicles and farm equipment. The Indian automaker posted a sharp 46 percent jump in profit as total vehicles sold soared 75 percent from a year ago to 174,098 units, while it had open bookings for more than 260,000 sports utility vehicles. Mahindra reported a profit after tax of 20.9 billion Indian rupees for the three months ended September 30, up from 14.33 billion a year earlier.
Analysts were expecting a profit of Rs, 1,988 crore, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
The company’s farm equipment sector saw the highest second-quarter volume while the auto segment achieved the highest-ever quarterly volume, Mahindra said in a statement, adding that exports for both vehicles and tractors remained strong.
While demand for passenger cars has been strong, Indian automakers, including Mahindra, are seeing an easing of semiconductor shortages and higher raw material costs, which have hampered the industry since the pandemic.
Passenger vehicle sales for September in India nearly doubled to 307,389 units from a year ago.
Revenue from operations jumped 56.5 percent during the quarter to Rs. 20,839 crore.
Earlier, rival Maruti Suzuki India reported a four-fold jump in quarterly profit, while Tata Motors saw its loss narrowing from a year ago on strong demand.
Meanwhile, German-based Mutares has offered to acquire a controlling stake of 80 percent in Mahindra-owned Peugeot Motocycles, the companies said on Thursday.
Earlier this week, Mahindra announced that it has tied up with three electric vehicle infrastructure partners – Jio-bp, Statiq, and Charge+Zone – to offer charging solutions for its upcoming range of passenger electric vehicles. With these partnerships, Mahindra EV users will get seamless access to a robust fast charging infrastructure and e-mobility solutions spanning across discovery, availability, navigation and transactions, the Mumbai-based automaker said.
© Thomson Reuters 2022
