The Hindu : Business : Maruti first quarter net profit up 32 p.c.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 26, 2005

Business

Business

Maruti first quarter net profit up 32 p.c.

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Maruti Udyog has registered a 32.49 per cent rise in net profit at Rs. 226.46 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2005 against Rs. 170.92 crore in the same period in the previous year. The higher profit has been attributed mainly to increased demand for high-value models like Alto and the newly introduced hatchback Swift.

Significantly, the rise in profit has come even after the country's biggest carmaker saw a 1.4 per cent decline in overall sales in the April-June quarter of 2005. While the company witnessed a fall in export numbers and slackening of demand for the M800 model, Maruti sold 1.22 lakh units during the quarter under reference against 1.24 lakh in the first quarter of last fiscal. According to a company statement, the total income rose by 6.11 per cent to Rs. 2,725.37 crore in the latest quarter from Rs. 2,568.22 crore in the same period last year.

Sales in the A2 segment covering high-value models like Alto, Zen, Wagon R and Swift saw a healthy 31.6 per cent rise resulting in higher profit. The period also saw a massive 75 per cent growth in demand for expensive models — Baleno and Esteem in the April-June period, which also helped tide over the slump in demand in other categories, including the M800.

Maruti had gone in for a price hike across various models in May this year, increasing the prices between 0.15 and 0.72 per cent. This included on models like Alto, WagonR and Zen. It had also increased the price of the Swift model, which sold 8,606 units till June.

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