The car maker recommended a dividend of Rs 80 per share for financial year 2018-19, the same as that of last year.
Country's largest passenger vehicle maker Maruti Suzuki India has reported a 5 percent year-on-year degrowth in March quarter profit, dented by weak operating performance and muted sales volume.
Net profit during the quarter declined to Rs 1,795.6 crore, from Rs 1,882.1 crore in same period last year. "This quarter was marked by adverse foreign exchange rates and commodity prices, higher depreciation and higher sales promotion expenses partially offset by cost reduction efforts," the company said.
Standalone revenue from operations grew by 1.4 percent year-on-year to Rs 21,459.4 crore in Q4 with sales volume degrowth of 0.7 percent YoY.
The company sold 4,58,479 vehicles during the quarter.
"We sold a total of 4,28,863 units in the domestic market, a growth of 0.4 percent. This comprised 4,21,383 units in passenger vehicle segment, a decline of 0.4 percent and 7,480 units of LCV, a growth of 83.6 percent over previous year. Exports were at 29,616 units," Maruti said.
Realisation per vehicle dropped to Rs 4.52 lakh in Q4 against Rs 4.59 lakh in Q3 and Rs 4.58 lakh in same period last year.
At operating level, EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) declined 25 percent year-on-year to Rs 2,263.4 crore and margin contracted 369 bps to 10.55 percent in January-March period, hit by adverse forex variations.
Overall numbers were mixed during the quarter. Profit was expected at Rs 1,800 crore on revenue of Rs 21,103 crore and EBITDA was likely at Rs 2,642 crore with margin at 12.5 percent for the quarter, as per CNBC-TV18 poll estimates.
Other income in Q4 increased sharply by 46 percent year-on-year to Rs 867.7 crore while finance cost dropped sharply to Rs 8.8 crore (from Rs 273 crore YoY) and tax expenses declined 31 percent to Rs 516.5 crore in quarter ended March 2019.
Maruti said this was a difficult year because of adverse foreign exchange rates and increase in commodity prices.
"The second SMG plant in Gujarat was commissioned leading to a higher depreciation expenses. The overall market was slow and had to be supported by higher sales promotion expenses. This was partially offset by cost reduction efforts," the company added.
Net profit for the year at Rs 7,500.6 crore was lower by 2.9 percent while net sales increased 6.3 percent to Rs 83,026.5 crore in FY19, compared to previous year.
The company sold total of 18,62,449 vehicles during the year, registering a growth of 4.7 percent over previous year.
The car maker recommended a dividend of Rs 80 per share for financial year 2018-19, the same as that of last year.
The stock was quoting at Rs 6,910, down Rs 114.35, or 1.63 percent on the BSE, at 14:45 hours IST.
