(Reuters) -Indian automaker Bajaj Auto beat quarterly profit estimates on Wednesday, helped by an boost in exports as it resumed overseas shipments of its premium KTM motorcycles.
The company reported a profit of 20.96 billion rupees ($239 million) for the April-June period, up from 19.88 billion rupees a year ago, while analysts had expected 20.42 billion rupees, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Bajaj Auto exports its popular motorcycle brands, along with its three-wheelers, across South America, Africa, and Asia.
The company’s exports grew 16% during the quarter, largely offsetting an 8% decline in domestic sales.
Export revenues hit a record in the quarter, Bajaj said, without sharing further details.
That was helped in part by a resumption of Indian-made KTM motorcycles, following Bajaj’s move to takeover of the Austrian automaker in May. Bajaj had paused exports of the Duke and other KTM models in the fourth quarter, citing concerns that it may not receive its dues from KTM.
However, its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, margins declined to 19.7%, falling below the 20% mark for the first time in seven quarters.
Lower “dollar realisations” during the quarter led to the margin dip, the company said.
That briefly pushed Bajaj Auto’s shares down by over 1%. Shortly after, they pared most losses to trade flat at 8,230 rupees as of 12:58 p.m. IST.
Overall revenue grew 5.5% to 125.84 billion rupees.
($1 = 87.6770 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair and Mrigank Dhaniwala)
