Maruti Suzuki Q1 profit rises 4.4%; misses analyst estimates

The country's topselling car maker, Maruti Suzuki India, on Thursday, posted a marginal 4.4 percent rise in profit to Rs 1,556.4 crore for the quarter ended June 30 from Rs 1,490.9 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. 

The auto maker's total revenues from operations increased to Rs 19,777.4 crore from Rs 16,996 crore during the same period. Net sales expanded almost 17 percent to Rs 17,132 crore. The company sold 3.94 lakh vehicles in Q1, a growth of 13.2 percent over the same period last year. Of this, exports were at 26,140 units, financial daily Business Standard reported.

The company's operating profit increased 5.3 percent to Rs 2,331.2 crore but margins contracted by 150 basis points to 13.6 percent due to higher commodity prices and high expenses in sales promotion and marketing.

The company said that growth in volumes, favourable product mix, higher non-operating income and cost reduction efforts contributed to the increase in profits. However, costs were impacted by higher commodity prices, sales promotions and marketing expenses.

But the car maker missed estimates by Bloomberg analysts, with a rise in commodity prices and impact of GST biting its earning pie.

Passenger vehicles sales in India declined 11.21 percent in June, the sharpest since March 2013 as companies curtailed dispatches to dealers ahead of the GST rollout on July 1. Automakers in India count despatches to dealers as sales.

End of Thursday's market close, the stock price was quoting at Rs 7,626.00, up Rs 48.05, or 0.63 percent after hitting a life high of Rs 7,679 on the BSE. And after today's trade country's market capitalisation stood at 2.29 lakh crore.