Exide Industries net profit down close to 6% in Q4

Kolkata, May 4 (IANS) Battery major Exide Industries on Thursday reported close to 6 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) fall in its net profit to Rs 164.78 crore for the quarter ended March 31, from Rs 175.21 crore for the corresponding period a year ago.

During the quarter under review, its gross sales, however, increased over 11 per cent y-o-y at Rs 2,213.32 crore, as compared to Rs 1,991.67 crore, the company said in a BSE filing.

Commenting on the results, G. Chatterjee, MD and CEO, said: "While growth in replacement sale of automotive and motorcycle batteries continues to be encouraging, demand in OEM business has also improved during the fourth quarter. Growth in UPS and Home UPS batteries have shown improvement during this quarter."

Rising lead price, however, continued to be a major concern, Chatterjee added.

"Company is focusing on cost control and technology upgradation as a strategy to improve the bottomline," the battery manufacturer said.

For the last financial year, the company reported a net profit of Rs 693.64 crore against a net profit of Rs 624.46 crore in the previous year.

The company board recommended payment of a final dividend of 80 per cent for the last fiscal.

On Thursday, its scrip rose 6.29 per cent to end the day at Rs 236.40 on the BSE.

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