- Maruti Suzuki tops quarterly revenue view
- Revenue growth driven by tax cut-driven sales jump
- Profit hurt by one-time charge from new labour code
Jan 28 (Reuters) - Maruti Suzuki, India's top carmaker by sales, posted its biggest quarterly revenue growth in over three years on Wednesday as tax cuts and festive demand boosted domestic sales.
Maruti kicks off the earnings season for Indian automakers in a quarter when car sales hit a record high thanks to steep tax cuts that made most models more affordable.
The company, majority-owned by Japan's Suzuki Motor, is India's largest manufacturer of small cars. Its domestic sales rose 22% in the three months ending December 31, led by a 26% jump in small-car dispatches.
The Swift manufacturer's total revenue rose 29% to 498.92 billion rupees ($5.44 billion), beating analysts' expectation of 495.93 billion rupees, per data compiled by LSEG.
The rise in revenue was the fastest since July-September 2022, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Maruti's overall sales, which include exports and sales of models to Toyota under a global manufacturing and design partnership, grew nearly 18% from a year earlier.
The carmaker's quarterly profit grew about 4% on year to 37.94 billion rupees, lower than analysts' estimate of 42.61 billion rupees.
The bottom line was hit by a one-time charge of 5.94 billion rupees tied to India's newly-enacted labour code.
The company said profit was also weighed down by higher commodity costs, unfavourable foreign exchange movement and rare-earth element supply issues.
Shares of the company were down 1.6% as of 3:01 p.m. IST, paring some losses from before the results.
($1 = 91.7750 Indian rupees)
Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala
Source: Reuters