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Ashok Leyland on Sunday reported 455 per cent jump in net profit for the quarter ended December at Rs 104.63 crore on the back of robust sales growth. The automobile manufacturer had registered a net profit of Rs 18.86 crore in the same quarter a year ago. Sales revenue was up 81 per cent at Rs 1,815.53 crore against Rs 1,004.49 crore in the corresponding period the previous fiscal. During the quarter under review, sales volume increased by 101 per cent at 16,129 units against 8,011 in the year ago period, the company said in a statement.

he company announced a 84% dip in Q1 net profit at Rs 7.77 crore from Rs 50.56 crore in the corresponding quarter in the previous fiscal. Net sales dropped 51% to Rs 912.45 crore in Q1FY10 from Rs 1,887.98 crore in Q1FY09.

Ashok Leyland today reported a 73.17 per cent decline in commercial vehicles sales in January 2009 at 2,444 units compared with 9,112 units sold in the same month last year. Domestic sales for the month stood at 2,026 units against 8,477 units in corresponding month last year, down by 76.10 per cent, the company said in a statement. Exports during the month fell by 34.17 per cent to 418 units compared with 635 units in the same period last year. The company reported a decline of around 76.29 per cent in total domestic sales of medium and heavy commercial vehicles at 1,977 units compared with 8,341 units in the same month last year. Domestic light commercial vehicle sales fell by 63.97 per cent to 49 units in January compared with 136 units in the corresponding period last year, while exports of LCVs for the month of January 2009 stood at 12 units compared with 19 units in the same period last year.

Ashok Leyland today posted a decline of 74 per cent in domestic sales in December at 1,420 units as against 5,488 units sold in the same month a year ago. In addition, to bring its inventory under control, the company was forced to shut down production at its plants resulting into a cut in output by more than 86 per cent during the same month. Its output fell to only 960 units during the month as compared to 7,110 units produced in the corresponding month a year ago. Company executives had mentioned earlier that the company will undertake heavy production cuts during December and January. Lack of financing from banks and high interest rates impacted the company’s goods carrying medium and heavy commercial vehicle (M&HCV) segment. This truck segment suffered massively as sales plunged by almost 87 per cent at 637 units as against 4,153 units.Exports of the company, however grew marginally by 5.75 per cent at 901 units as against 852 units.

The country's second-largest commericial vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland on Thursday reported a 60 per cent drop in sales in November mirroring the slowdown in the industry. The company's domestic sales for the month stood at 1788 units as against 5366 units in the same month last year. Like in the case of market leader Tata Motor's whose medium and heavy commercial vehicle sales declined at a higher clip of 60 per cent during the month, Ashok Leyland's M&HCV sales fell by 67 per cent. The company's production for the month crashed by 79 per cent indicating its problems with high inventories. Overall sales for the April-November period are down by 17 per cent while domestic sales are down 19 per cent. With no hopes of a revival in the near future despite indications of an imminent excise duty reduction on commercial vehicles soon, the company has already deferred its Rs 700-800 crore plans for capacity expansions while cutting its production and reducing the...

Hinduja group flagship company Ashok Leyland on Thursday announced a net profit of Rs 180.57 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2008 a 5.28 per cent growth over the corresponding period a year ago. The company had a net profit of Rs 171.52 cro re in the fourth quarter of the financial year ended March 31, 2007. The total income rose to Rs 2,573.61 crore for the latest quarter, from Rs 2,307.9 crore in the year-ago period. The board of directors has declared a dividend of 150 per cent at the rate of Rs 1.50, on every share of face value of Re 1 held, for the year ended 2007-08. For the year-ended March 31, 2008, the company announced a net profit of Rs 469.31 crore, a 6.35 per cent growth over the year-ago period. The company had a net profit of Rs 441.29 crore in the financial year ended March 31, 2007. The total income rose t o Rs 7,803.12 crore for the year ended March 31, 2007 from Rs 7,238.98 crore last year. The board has approved the appointment of Vinod K Dasari as an Additio...

Hinduja Group flagship Ashok Leyland finished the year ended March 31, 2008 with sales of 83,309 vehicles when compared with 83,094 units sold in 2007, according to an official statement released today.Domestic sales in the M&HCV segment dropped to 75,408 units from 76,736 units, but domestic LCV sales increased to 615 units from 333 units sold in 2007. Exports increased 21% to 7,286 vehicles from 6,025 in FY07. Total production for the year was 84,006 units when compared with 83,558 units in the last fiscal.Eicher Motors sales decline marginally in MarchEicher Motors today reported a marginal decline in sales at 3,704 units in March when compared with 3,730 units sold in March 2007.Domestic sales were flat at 3,297 units when compared with 3,283 units in March 2007. Exports declined 9% to 407 units from 447 units.For the year ended March 31, 2008, sales increased 6% to 29,827 units from 28,072 units sold in FY07.

Ashok Leyland has no plans to slowdown its expansion, instead will invest Rs 2000 crore to set up 3 joint ventures with Nissan, says K Sridharan, CFO of the company, on NDTV Profit. The company is targeting 20% topline and 20% sales growth in FY08, he adds. By June 2008, the company expects to produce 130,000 vehicles per year, he says. The stock is currently trading at Rs 38.45,up 2.81% on the BSE(3.20PM IST).

Ashok Leyland puts off expansion plan (Live mint.com 16th Jan 2008)Ashok Leyland Ltd, India’s second largest seller of trucks, is putting off by two years the opening of a planned facility that would have increased its production capacity by at least 50%. The move comes on the back of rising interest rates, which have reduced demand for commercial vehicles in the current financial year. One economist said the decline in demand for trucks did not bode well for the economy. “Slowdown in commercial vehicle sales is a clear signal of a forthcoming slowdown (in the economy),” said Suresh Babu, assistant professor of economics at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai. The Chennai-based Ashok Leyland had originally planned to add 100,000 units to its existing capacity of 84,000 units by the first half of 2010. This increase was to be across two locations—Chennai and Uttarakhand. Now, the company says it will only go ahead with the plan at Uttarakhand, but keep the 50,000-unit exp...

Ashok Leyland has support at Rs 49 says Technical Analyst Rajat K Bose on CNBC TV 18. He says that if Ashok Leyland consolidates between Rs 45-50 then definitely it would be a good buy, but Rs 49 would be a support. He does not expect it to go much further down.

M&M pulls out of joint venture with Renault, Nissan (The Hindu Business Line 9th Jan 2008)It is now official. Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) will go its separate way and what was to be a three-way joint venture involving Renault and Nissan for car production on the outskirts of Chennai has become just a Franco-Japanese venture involving Renault and Nissan. In a statement issued to the press in Mumbai today, M&M said that it is deferring its investment in the car plant, capable of producing up to 400,000 cars annually, that was to have come up in Oragadam, a village just off Chennai. The announcement thus effectively ends speculation, rife for some time now, that M&M is pulling out of the project. More Ashok Leyland to unveil concept bus at Auto (The Hindu Business Line 9th Jan 2008)Ashok Leyland will be unveiling a concept intra-city bus at the Auto Expo. Christened iBUS, it was developed in 10 months by a Cross Functional Team (CFT) of 25 young engineers of the company....

Ashok Leyland to launch Altrux in more states (The Economic Times 2nd Jan 2008)Terming as a 'thumping success' its pre-owned trux business "ALTURX", heavy vehicle maker Ashok Leyland Limited, the flagship company of the Hinduja Group, plans to extend it across the country. The pre-owned trux business, wherein used Ashok Leyland vehicles would be purchased from the market, re-conditioned and sold by the company with a six month guarantee, had been a thumping success in Rajasthan, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, Special Director, Customer Support Group, V M Homabli told media here yesterday. More

Tata Motors says Thai production to begin early next year (Live mint.com 6th Dec 2007)Leading auto maker Tata Motors said on 6 December it will begin production of pick-up trucks in Thailand early next year on the back of steady demand in Southeast Asia. Tata Motors (Thailand), a subsidiary of the Indian company, will invest 1.3 billion baht (Rs150 crore, $38 million) to launch its first output base in the kingdom, the biggest auto market in Southeast Asia. Ashok Leyland vehicle sales down 16% in November (The Hindu Business Line 6th Dec 2007)Ashok Leyland Ltd., said on Thursday that it sold 5,800 vehicles in November, down 16 per cent from 6,923 units sold in the same month last year. Domestic sales fell to 5,366 units from 6,420 units, while exports dropped to 434 units from 503 units from a year ago. Ashok Leyland and Nissan Motor Co recently firmed up joint ventures for the manufacture of light trucks, engines and transmissions and technology. Tatas, others put in bid as Jaguar r...