BENGALURU: India’s Force Motors reported a fourth straight quarterly profit, helped by strong demand for its multi-seater passenger vehicles that are also used as school buses and ambulances, sending its shares up 5%.
The company, which also makes engines for BMW and Mercedes cars in India, yesterday posted a consolidated net profit of 854 million rupees in the third quarter, compared with a year-ago loss of 155.9 million rupees.
Until the year-ago quarter, the company had posted a string of losses as the Covid-19 pandemic and its fallout dented demand.
Industry-wide commercial vehicle sales rose 3.5% in the latest October-December quarter, while passenger vehicles sales jumped 8.3% to a record high, which analysts said, was due to festive season demand.
Force Motors’ domestic sales jumped 10.6% in the quarter. Last week, Ashok Leyland posted a bigger-than-expected profit on strong demand for its trucks and buses.
While Force Motors gets about 48% of its revenue from vehicle sales, about 36% comes from contract engine manufacturing, according to its last annual report.
The company, which also makes tractors and off-roaders, said revenue from operations rose 29.7% to 16.92 billion rupees in the latest quarter. — Reuters
