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UPDATE 1-India's TVS Motor Q1 net races ahead on new bike

(Adds company chief's, analyst's quotes; details)

By Suresh Seshadri

MADRAS, India, July 29 (Reuters) - TVS Motor Co Ltd, India's third-largest motorcycle maker, reported on Monday its April-June profit leapt 149 percent from a year earlier, helped by rising sales of a new bike and cost cuts.

Net profit rose to 267.8 million rupees ($5.5 million) from 107.6 million rupees and compared with the average estimate of 272 million rupees in a Reuters poll of three analysts.

Net sales of Madras-based TVS rose 54 percent to 6.30 billion rupees, versus the average estimate of 6.35 billion rupees.

"The results are broadly in line with expectations," said S Krishnakumar, vice president at Anush Shares and Securities. "The Victor has helped lift margins to nine percent from 7.5 percent in the fourth quarter."

TVS' April-June sales by volume soared 88 percent from a year ago to 163,000 vehicles, of which the indigenously-designed 110 cc, four-stroke Victor model accounted for 38 percent.

Launched last August, it is being promoted by Indian cricket superstar Sachin Tendulkar. Priced at 44,000 rupees ($903), it is aimed at the largest and fastest-growing price segment in a motorcycle market that grew 54.5 percent in the quarter.

Motorcycle makers in India have benefitted from a shift in consumers preference to motorcycles from scooters as bikes are sturdier and more fuel-efficient.

TVS, which in October ended a two-decade-old joint venture with Suzuki Motor Corp , is one of three big Indian producers in the world's second-largest motorcycle market, behind China.

TVS' managing director Venu Srinivasan told an earnings news conference that the company's market share had jumped to 17.9 percent in the quarter from 14.8 percent a year earlier and he hoped this would reach 20 percent by the year-end.

SHARES DOWN ON MONSOON

But the company's shares ended down 3.11 percent at 450 rupees on the Bombay Stock Exchange shortly after the results were announced, partly as a patchy monsoon has dented sentiment for auto shares, which had outperformed the market in the past two weeks.

TVS' shares touched a two-year high of 552 rupees on July 11 after soaring 240 percent since Jan 1.

Srinivasan acknowledged that the company, which also makes mopeds and light scooters, would be affected to an extent by a failed monsoon, but expected to outperform the sector.

"We expect the 54.5 percent first-quarter growth in motorcycles sales to sharply taper down to 20 to 25 percent for the current year, but we will still grow substantially ahead of the market," he said. (US$1 = 48.75 Indian rupees)