BENGALURU, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Indian tractor maker Escorts Kubota reported a more than two-fold rise in the second-quarter profit on Friday, as price hikes offset muted sales.
The company's consolidated net profit climbed to 2.23 billion rupees ($26.8 million) in the three months to Sept. 30 from 988.3 million rupees a year earlier, it said in an exchange filing.
Escorts Kubota has hiked prices of its agri-machinery products, which includes commercial vehicles such as tractors, thrice since the second quarter last year, citing a rise in commodity and other costs.
The company's revenue rose nearly 9% to 20.59 billion rupees during the September quarter.
Expenses rose 3.4% in the September quarter, with raw material costs increasing 2.6%.
Tractor sales fell 7.1% during the quarter as rural demand was hurt by India's weakest monsoon rains since 2018, leading to a 4.2% drop in the segment revenue. The tractor business accounts for nearly 70% of total revenue.
Revenue in the company's smaller construction equipment and railway equipment segments, however, rose nearly 72% and 29%, respectively.
Shares of Escorts Kubota rose as much as 1.4% after results. They settled 0.7% higher on Friday, taking their year-to-date gains to 43.7%.
Its tractor-making rivals Mahindra & Mahindra and VST Tillers Tractors will report their results next week.
($1 = 83.2420 Indian rupees)
Source: Reuters