Maruti Suzuki Q3 Results: Profit doubles to Rs 2,351 crore, revenue zooms 25% YoY

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd’s net profit for the December quarter more than doubled on year to Rs 2,351 crore, and beat ET Now Poll of Rs 1,873 crore.

Revenue from operations rose nearly 25% on year to Rs 29,044 crore and was also higher than the estimated Rs 27,162 crore.

Sequentially, the bottomline increased by 14%, but the topline fell by nearly 3%.

Buoyed by the strong earnings, shares of Maruti Suzuki India extended the day’s gains and touched an over 1-month high of Rs 8,718. The stock was the second biggest gainer on the Nifty 50, ending 3.4% higher at Rs 8,698.80.

Operating profit, calculated as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), surged 82% on year. The operating margin improved by a sharp 304 basis points to 9.75%. For the first time in 2 years, the automaker’s margin has surpassed 9.5%.

After several quarters, the automaker got relief on the raw material cost front. Input costs rose just about 2% on year, but slumped over 92% to Rs 10,213 crore. Raw material cost as a percentage of the net sales dropped by 310 bps on year.

Improved realisation, favourable foreign exchange variation, softening commodity prices, and cost efficiencies led to the sharp improvement in margins, and offset the higher sales promotion expenses incurred in the quarter.

However, on a sequential basis, margins dropped due to the higher sales promotion expenses.

Total sales volume in the reported quarter increased 8% on year to 465,911 units but declined nearly 10% sequentially, while domestic sales increased 10.5% on year in the quarter, exports fell nearly 5%.

The country’s largest automaker saw the highest-ever sales of 19,40,067 units in 2022, and record exports of 2,63,068 units. Its cumulative production crossed 25 million units.

The sales network had grown to over 3,500 outlets. The company did record dispatches of 3.2 lakh vehicles using railways in 2022.

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