Ashok Leyland

The second largest commercial vehicle maker posted a super duper set of numbers for Q2FY16. On a very healthy 55% (YoY) rise in net sales at Rs.4879 crore the company recorded a net profit of Rs.287 crore, up by 137%. Call it the base effect or sheer bounce back, the fact is that its H1FY16 net profit of Rs.446 crore has already surpassed FY16 net profit of Rs.335 crore. Sales volume in M/HCV was up 64% (YoY) and LCV volumes were up 4.5%.

Managing costs and cutting down on discounts have helped post this performance. Costs, YoY were up 44% but it came down to 91% of net sales in current Q2 compared to 98% in previous Q2. This helped improvement in overall profitability. EBITDA for the quarter rose 159% at Rs.594 crore and margins rose from 7.27% to 12.17% (YoY). The company’s debt fell 9% to Rs.2359 crore from Rs.2591 crore. Interest cost thus declined 31% from Rs.101 crore to Rs.70 crore.