Bajaj Auto Q1 profit up 42% to ₹1,665 cr

livemint.com:

₹1,665 crore in the June quarter, primarily driven by motorcycle sales in the domestic market, which managed to offset the impact of challenging conditions in the export markets. The firm posted domestic volume growth of 73% from a year ago in April-June, while exports fell 35%. Overall sales rose 10% over a year earlier.

Its operating revenue rose 29% to ₹10,310 crore in Q1, while profit margin rose 280 basis point to 19% as its volume mix favoured high-margin premium products, pricing action and higher foreign exchange realization. Bajaj Auto’s recent 400cc motorcycles developed along with British partner Triumph have registered 17,000 bookings in less than a month since launch. “Bookings were from just 17 Triumph touchpoints," Rakesh Sharma, Bajaj Auto’s executive director said during post-earnings conference call.

“Exports in Q1FY24 were better than the fourth quarter, though not much better. It was good to see an improvement over Q4. Exports rose sequentially by 12%, primarily driven by Africa and a steady Latin America.

Our estimates show that industry retails were 2% higher in Q1FY24 compared to Q4FY23, but our performance was 5% better than Q4, therefore better than the industry. South Asia and Middle East was a tad lower still in Q1 and ASEAN for a specific problem in the Philippines was lower in Q1. When it comes to our top 15 markets, which account for almost 80% of our business, Q1 was 4% better than Q4 for the industry and 7% better for Bajaj Auto.