Escorts Kubota Q4 profit up 14% at Rs 216.5 crore

Tractor and construction machinery major Escorts Kubota on Wednesday reported a 14% growth in its consolidated net profit at Rs 216.5 crore for the quarter ended March 2023, as against a profit of Rs 190 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Meanwhile, the company's consolidated revenue from operations grew 17.4% at Rs 2,214.5 crore in Q4 as against Rs 1,886.6 crore in Q4FY22. 

The company’s EBIDTA for the quarter ended March 2023 stood at Rs 233.2 crore as against Rs 248.2 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

For the year ended March 2023, consolidated revenue from operations at Rs 8,428.7 crore was up by 15.7% as against Rs 7,282.7 crore in the previous year. 

Escorts Kubota's consolidated profit after tax stood at Rs 636.7 crore against Rs 735.6 crore in the previous year. 

EPS was reported at Rs 58.85 during the year under review as against Rs 74.06 in the previous year. 

Nikhil Nanda, Chairman and Managing Director, stated that in the agri business, the retail sales were impacted due to unseasonal rainfall and crop damage in certain regions. 

"However, with better crop prices, improved finance availability, and good water reservoir levels, we expect demand momentum to continue across geographies in the coming quarters. We witnessed growth across the construction equipment portfolio towards the second half of this fiscal year across material handling, earth moving as well as road segment," Nanda said. 

He further said that the current market sentiments are positive, and demand is expected to remain buoyant due to the continuous focus of the government on infrastructure projects. 

"Railway business has also been consistently growing and the focus on rail network and connectivity will further provide impetus to the segment. Our investments in expanding coverage, building capacity, and producing innovative product lines will continue for enhanced customer reach and product experience," Nanda added. 

During the fourth quarter, tractor volumes went up by 13.1% at 24,765 units as against 21,895 units in the corresponding period last year. Segment revenue went up by 13.6% to Rs 1,557.5 crore in the quarter ended March 2023 as against Rs 1,370.8 crore in the corresponding period last year. EBIT margin for Q4 stood at 9.9% as compared to 15.4% in the corresponding period a year ago.

As per the Deputy Managing Director, Seiji Fukuoka, "We are committed to offering state of the art technology and solutions to our customers for increased productivity and operational efficiency. Our efforts across domestic and export geographies are well-mapped to leverage opportunities across our core business verticals, and we are hopeful that with our strategic initiatives, we will be able to achieve desired growth. Quality and performance will be our topmost priority and we will continue to focus on innovation and enhancing customer experience."

For the year ended March 2023, tractor volumes went up by 9.6% at 1,03,290 units as compared to 94,228 units last year. Segment revenue also went up by 13.5% to Rs 6,316.1 crore in the year ended March 2023 as against Rs 5,563.7 crore last year. EBIT margin for the year ended March 2023 came at 9.3% as compared to 15.4% in the corresponding period last year.

For the quarter ended March 2023, Construction equipment sales volume at 1,528 machines went

up by 18.8% as against 1,286 machines in corresponding period last year. Segment revenues went up by 20.5% at Rs 384.8 crore in quarter ending March 2023 as against Rs 319.5 crore in corresponding period last year. EBIT margin was up to 8.1 % as against 3.6% in corresponding period last year, led by higher volume, better product mix and softening in commodity prices.

For year ended March 2023, construction equipment volumes went up by 12.2% to 4,620 units as compared to 4,117 units in corresponding period last year. Segment revenue went up by 19.5% to Rs 1,179.0 crore in year ended March 2023 as against Rs 986.8 crore last year. EBIT margin for year ended March 2023 came at 2.9% as against 2.4% last year.