Exide Industries reports 5.9% profit growth in Q1FY25

Auto battery major Exide Industries reported a standalone net profit of Rs 280 crore - a jump of 5.9% during Q1FY25 as against Rs 242 crore in Q1FY24. Meanwhile, the company's revenues from operations stood at Rs 4313 crore in Q1FY25 when compared with the corresponding period of Q1FY24 when it was Rs 4073 crore. The growth was driven by an uptick in volumes across its business verticals, the company informed in a regulatory filing.

Avik Roy, MD & CEO of the company said, "Despite the rising raw material prices, cost optimization initiatives led to lower cost of production and gross margin improvement of nearly 240 basis points on a y-o-y basis". "EBITDA margin also increased to 11.5% which is in line with our focus on improving the overall profitability".

The company expects lithium battery demand to jump to 150–160GWH by 2030. With a focus on setting up a lithium cell manufacturing facility of 6GWh capacity in phase 1, Exide recently tied up with OEMs such as Hyundai and Kia for battery supplies while discussions are on with several others.

As per Roy, the company's lithium-ion project, onsite construction and installation of production line equipment are currently underway. He added that the organizational recruiting, manpower training, customer engagement, supply chain establishment and all other necessary functions are progressing well to meet the defined timeline of the project completion.

The company s a prominent Indian manufacturer of lead-acid storage batteries, headquartered in Kolkata. Established in 1947, the company has grown to become India's largest storage battery company and a leading producer of automotive and industrial batteries.

Exide supplies batteries for various applications, including automobiles, inverters, UPS systems, and renewable energy storage. The company has a strong distribution network across India and exports to numerous countries. Exide has invested significantly in research and development, focusing on improving battery technology and exploring lithium-ion solutions. The company has multiple manufacturing plants across India.