Maruti Suzuki

The largest car seller of India posted a set of encouraging numbers for Q3Fy15. On a 12% (YoY) rise in volumes, the company posted a 15% rise in net sales at Rs.12,263 crore. Operating costs remained stable at 92% of total income. EBITDA came in at Rs.1593 crore, up 18%. The market was more enthused with the improvement in margins – up to 12.79%, up 30 bps. Interest costs were down 33% though this was more than offset by the 28% rise in tax outgo. The company ended the quarter with a 18% rise in net profit at Rs.802 crore. Numbers of automobile companies are always compared YoY and not QoQ as seasonality affects performance. Thus if seen QoQ, which is unreasonable, the net profit is down 7%.

The carmaker, which has a market share of 45% in the passenger vehicle segment, sold a total of 3.23 lakh vehicles in Q3 FY15, up 12.4% (YoY). Of this, exports were at 28,709 units, a growth of 43.8%. For 9MFY15, the company posted a net profit of Rs.2427 crore which is already 87% of FY14 net profit of Rs.2783 crore. Surely, with one more quarter to go and with buying of vehicles typically seen picking up in Q4 for tax purposes, the company is sure to end current fiscal on a much better note. Little wonder that many FIIs and fund houses have given a ‘buy’ call on the stock, post these results.