Maruti Suzuki

The stock hit a new 52-week high yesterday at Rs.3297 after it declared a better-than-expected set of Q2FY15 numbers. The company notched up a 29% (YoY) jump in net profit at Rs.863 crore and this was on a 17% rise in net revenue at Rs.12,304 crore. This performance was largely driven by good volume growth wherein the company sold 3.21 lakh units in current Q2, a good 17% jump over previous Q2. Sequentially, volumes rose 7%. Over 83% of the vehicles were sold in India and rest exported. In fact exports YoY remained flat but domestic sales rose 19%. What also helped boost the bottomline was the 91% increase in ‘other income’.

Operating costs rose 18%, primarily led by 24% jump in raw material cost, 20% rise in depreciation and 8% in other expenses. Interest outgo for the quarter was at Rs.35 crore, down 19%. More than the performance, the market was more enthused with the Board of the company approving hike in FII limit from the current 24% to 40%. The Board also gave the nod to a ‘dividend payout’ guideline, under which it stated that the company would strive to keep the dividend payout ratio, except for reasons to be recorded, within the range of 18-30%. Its reseves as at 30th Sept 2014 stood at Rs.18,428 crore.