Ashok Leyland

On the face of it, the company seems to have done exceedingly well – ending Q4Fy14 with a net profit at Rs.363 crore, up 142% (YoY) and a very smart turnaround compared to loss of Rs.167 crore in Q3. But dig deeper and you can see that the difference has come in thanks to the exceptional item of Rs.376 crore through sale of long term investments and property. Prior to adding up this exceptional gain, the company has a loss of Rs.16 crore before tax. And after adding this on, from loss we get a PBT of Rs.359 crore and then there is the tax write back of Rs.4 crore, which thus helps the company end the quarter with this whopping 142% jump in net profit or else the quarter would have surely ended in the red. Net sales for the quarter came in at Rs.3021 crore, down 17% (YoY) though up 59% (QoQ).

The company’s total consolidated borrowings stands at Rs.6755 crore and interest outgo for the fiscal was at Rs.805 crore. For the first time, the company had a ‘consolidated’ number for Fy14 and ended the fiscal with a net revenue of Rs.11,334 crore and net loss was at Rs.164 crore. On a standalone basis, net profit was at Rs.29 crore, down 93%.  Things have not been good in the first month of current Q1, with April total sales coming down 21% (YoY), with M&HCV sales declining 14% and LCV falling 39%.