Ashok Leyland reports net profit of Rs 143 crore, shares rise

Ashok Leyland reports net profit of Rs 143 crore, shares riseIndia's second-biggest bus and truck maker, Ashok Leyland has recorded a net profit of Rs 143 crore during the July-September quarter.

Even as the second quarter profit is 7 percent below the profits recorded in the same quarter of the previous year, it is much higher than the market expectation of Rs 84 crore. The sales of the company increased 5 percent to Rs
3,222 crore compared to analyst expectation of Rs 3,213 crore.

The better than expected profits resulted in a rise in shares of the company. Ashok Leyland was trading 6.4 percent higher a day after it announced the quarterly results. IDFC has already upgraded the company to 'outperform' and retains its target price of 31 rupees citing better than expected earnings.

Analysts say that the company's EBITDA margins were recorded at 10.1 percent, which is much higher than 8.3 percent expected by the market. The rise was mainly due to lower other expenses and employee cost per sales. The company managed to increase its market share to 26 percent in the medium and heavy commercial vehicle segment in India.