Ashok Leyland Posts 13% Fall In Q3 Profit

New Delhi: Hinduja Group flagship Ashok Leyland on Wednesday reported a 13 per cent decline in standalone net profit at Rs 185.88 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2016.

The company had posted a standalone net profit of Rs 213.7 crore for the corresponding period last fiscal year, Ashok Leyland said in a filing to the BSE.

Total income from operations during the period under review stood at Rs 4,723.58 crore, as against Rs 4,366.35 crore in the year-ago quarter - an increase of 8.18 per cent.

Ashok Leyland said its sales volumes in the medium and heavy commercial vehicles (M&HCV) segment stood at 25,285 units as against 23,176 in the year-ago period, up 9 per cent. 

Ashok Leyland managing director and CEO Vinod Dasari said: "Q3 has been quite challenging for the industry, primarily due to the steep increase in material cost. Demonetisation had an impact but the industry is recovering from it. Despite these challenges we have maintained healthy operating margins."

On the outlook, he said, "Pre-buy in Q4 owing to BS IV implementation in FY2017-18, with our recent introductions in the intermediate CV segment Guru (truck) and Sunshine (bus) and light CV segment Partner (truck) and MiTR (bus) are expected to have a very positive impact on our volumes in the current quarter."

Shares of Ashok Leyland ended 2.42 per cent lower at Rs 86.6 apiece on the BSE, whose benchmark Sensex index finished up 1.21 per cent.