Subdued growth for Bosch Limited in first quarter of 2012

May 7: A sluggish economy, a noticeable slowdown in the automotive industry and continuing challenges in the export market mainly in Europe have had their impact on Bosch Ltd’s sales. The component maker has registered a net sales growth of 10 percent in the first quarter of 2012 compared with the same period last year.

Net sales and income from operations stood at Rs 2,267.5 crore in this quarter, resulting in subdued growth mainly due to lower sales in the commercial vehicle and tractor segments. The Diesel Systems business too has witnessed relatively lower growth of 3.8 percent due to a decline in the tractor market and de-growth in the export market.

The Starter and Generator business, however, posted an impressive growth of 75 percent. The introduction of new base line alternators in the second half of 2011 for inland and export customers enabled the division to post higher growth. The Automotive Aftermarket and Power Tools division continued to notch double-digit growth of 13 percent and 15 percent respectively compared with the same period last year. The Packaging division grew by 61 percent due to higher export projects executed in this quarter, and the Security Technology division posted a growth of 20 percent.

Exports sales registered growth of only 3.3 percent in the first quarter of 2012 as compared to the same period in 2011, due to weak demand in Europe.

Announcing the company’s financial results, V K Viswanathan, managing director, Bosch Ltd, said: “The business conditions are quite challenging particularly for the auto industry due to varying levels of performance in different segments. The prediction of a normal monsoon combined with expectation of falling inflation and declining interest rates, give us reasonable optimism for satisfactory performance of the company in 2012”.