Mahindra & Mahindra reported a forecast-beating 44% jump in quarterly profit, helped by an exceptional gain and strong volume growth in the face of rising input costs.
Mahindra, which controls over 40 percent of India’s tractor market, the world’s largest, said slowing economic growth in Asia’s third-largest economy and escalating global risks meant the near-term outlook for the company was challenging, Reuters reported.
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“The growth in the profits of the company, despite the relentless increase in material costs, is due to good volume performance by both vehicles and tractors and tight control on expenses,” the company said in a statement cited by the news agency.
Mahindra, the flagship company of the $14.4 billion Mahindra Group, and owner of Ssangyong Motor, said it would continue to focus on cost controls to counter India’s sluggish economic growth.
Mahindra’s passenger car sales have defied a slowdown in India’s car market, selling 27% more cars in the March quarter from a year previously.
Domestic tractor sales were down 14% in the period.
Net profit for January-March was INR8.74bn (US$156m), up from INR6.06bn a year earlier. There was an exceptional gain of INR1.08bn on a tax saving in the quarter.
Net sales rose 39% to INR92.4bn.
Analysts on average expected profit of INR6.2bn on revenues of INR82.6bn, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
