Eicher Motors Friday registered a 18.05 per cent rise in consolidated net profit after tax to Rs 545 crore for March 2019 quarter.
The company had reported a net profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 462 crore in the year-ago period.
Total revenue from operations for the quarter stood at Rs 2,500 crore as against Rs 2,528 crore in the same period of 2017-18, Eicher Motors said in a statement.
During the period under review, the maker of niche Royal Enfield bikes sold 1,97,567 units, down 13 per cent from 2,26,907 in the same period last year.
For 2018-19, the company posted a PAT of Rs 2,203 crore as compared to Rs 1,960 crore in 2017-18. Total revenue for 2018-19 was Rs 9,797.06 crore as against Rs 9,219.26 crore in 2017-18.
"The latter half of 2018 was a challenging period for the two-wheeler industry in India with factors such as revision in insurance cost, increase in prices on account of new safety norms, affected consumer sentiment," Eicher Motors MD Siddhartha Lal said in a statement.
At Royal Enfield, the company recorded flat sales volume after several years of augmented sales growth, he added.
"Despite a challenging fourth quarter, the trend of premiumisation continues to show significant potential. We believe challenges are an opportunity to introspect and better ourselves," Lal said.
Later speaking in a media call, he said it was difficult to say when the industry would be back in terms of growth.
"In the meantime, we are trying to utilise this period to fill in the gaps and improve our processes further," Lal said.
When asked if prices of Royal Enfield bikes would witness an increase due to upcoming BS VI norms, Lal said: "It will be for the entire industry. We believe there would be a reasonable step up (in prices)".
Lal said that despite tough market conditions, the company will stick to its production target of 9.5 lakh units in the current fiscal.
The company sold 8,22,724 Royal Enfield units during 2018-19, a marginal growth over 8,20,121 units in 2017-18.
The company said it has tied-up with a local assembler to establish assembly operations in Thailand, its first outside of India, which is planned to commence operations by June 2019.
Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles (VECV), the company's joint-venture with Sweden's AB Volvo, saw revenue from operations dip by 3 per cent to Rs 3,209 crore in the fourth quarter from Rs 3,317 crore in the same period last year. Its PAT declined by 22 per cent to Rs 139 crore from Rs 177 crore in same quarter of 2017-18.
VECV sold 21,010 trucks and buses in the quarter, registering a decline of 9 per cent over the same period last year.
"While registering a decline in the fourth quarter, VECV finished the year at par with the industry growth of 12 per cent. The market conditions were adverse due to all time high price discounting," Lal said.
The company's board recommended a dividend of Rs 125 per share of face value of Rs 10 each (1,250 per cent) for the year ended March 31, 2019.
Eicher shares Friday ended 0.23 per cent up at Rs 20,329.25 on the BSE.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)