Maruti Suzuki surprises with 58% jump in Q4 net profit as price hike helps

Maruti Suzuki, India’s largest carmaker, said Friday net profit for the January-March quarter grew 57.7% on year to Rs 1,839 crore.

The company’s vehicle sales fell 0.7% from a year earlier, but price hikes helped it offset the impact of a rise in raw material cost and shortage of semiconductors.

The bottom line was above market estimates of around Rs 1,670 crore.

The shortage in chip supply has been plaguing Indian automakers for past couple of quarters, leading to a long waiting period for most popular models. Maruti Suzuki, too, had pending customer bookings of about 268,000 vehicles at the end of March.

The company's revenue during the quarter rose 11.1% on year to Rs 25,514 crore, missing analyst estimates of Rs 26,881 crore.

For the fiscal year 2021-22, the company's net sales grew by a fourth to Rs 83,798 crore, but its net profit declined 11% to Rs 3,766 crore.

OTHER KEY HIGHLIGHTS

1) Export hit an all-time high of 68,454 units in January-March.

2) The company recorded its highest ever exports of 238,376 units in FY22. This was also about 62% higher than the peak exports in any financial year so far.

3) The board of directors recommended a dividend of Rs 60 per share.

4) Operating profit for the quarter grew 42% on yar to Rs 1,779 crore.

5) The company sold 16,52,653 vehicles during FY22, up 13.4% over the previous year.

Company Commentary

Maruti Suzuki said prices of commodities such as steel, aluminium and precious metals witnessed “an unprecedented increase” during this year. The company was forced to increase prices of vehicles to partially offset this impact, it said.

The company also said its annual comparison should be taken with a pinch of salt.

"In FY22, the sales performance of the company was significantly affected due to COVID-19 related disruptions and electronic component shortages. However, in FY21 the sales performance was affected largely due to COVID-19 related disruptions. As the degree of disruption was entirely different, any comparison of FY22 over FY21 would not be meaningful," the company said.