Ashok Leyland shares plunged 52 per cent in financial year 2019-20.
Ashok Leyland swung to loss of Rs 57 crore in quarter ended March 2020 against a profit of Rs 653 crore during the same quarter last year, the Chennai-based commercial vehicle maker said in a regulatory filing post market hours on Thursday. Ashok Leyland's revenue from operations fell sharply to Rs 3,814 crore from Rs 8,723 crore during the corresponding period of last year as a result of COVID-19-induced lockdowns and subsequent fall in the economic activity.
"The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic across the globe and in India has contributed to a significant decline and volatility in the global and Indian financial markets and slowdown in the economic activities," Ashok Leyland said in the stock exchange filing.
For financial year 2019-20, Ashok Leyland reported revenue of Rs 17,467 crore as against Rs 29,055 crore for the same period last year. The profit after tax was Rs 240 crore compared with Rs 1,983 crore.
Vipin Sondhi, MD & CEO Ashok Leyland Limited said, "This has been a challenging year for the industry, which witnessed a significant decline in volumes (42 per cent). Consequently, Ashok Leyland also saw a reduction in volume. Despite the drop in the volumes, we have been able to achieve an EBITDA of 6.7 per cent owing to the pan-company efforts to drive profitability."
Ashok Leyland shares were trading on 0.8 per cent lower at Rs 53 on the National Stock Exchange, underperforming the Nifty 50 index which was up 0.64 per cent. In the financial year 2019-20, Ashok Leyland shares plunged 52 per cent.
