With strong performance in first 9 months of FY24, Ashok Leyland poised to reach medium-term goals: Dheeraj Hinduja

With commercial vehicle giant Ashok Leyland surpassing the previous high of FY19 on most of the key parameters during the first nine months of FY24, the company's top leadership says it's making steady progress toward reaching its ambitious and medium-term goals.

In an investor presentation on Tuesday, the management highlighted its growth journey. It recorded its highest commercial vehicle (CV) volumes at 138,416 units for the first nine months of FY24, surpassing its previous best in FY19.

Furthermore, the company's revenues for the same period, amounting to Rs 27,100 crore, showed an increase compared to FY23 Additionally, the flagship of the Hinduja Group achieved its highest-ever EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation) at Rs 3,014 crore, surpassing its previous best in FY19.

The net profit during the reported period stood at Rs 1,718 crore, which is also the highest since its previous best in FY19.

Dheeraj Hinduja, Executive Chairman, Ashok Leyland, during a post-results conference call with the media, remarked, "Our capital expenditures and debt position are as per our plans and satisfactory. We are on track towards achieving our midterm goals of product and market share expansion, improving geographical presence, and becoming more profitable." 

The growth chart continues

Elaborating further, the top executive stated that in the first three quarters, the demand for MHCV has grown by 9%, and demand projections remain good for the rest of the period on a higher base of Q4 FY23. "We had also indicated that we will safely remain at about  30% market share of MHCV and confidently move towards 35% going forward," Hinduja noted, before adding that the company's volumes have grown by about 7% during the first nine months, which is in line with industry growth.

The bus segment performed relatively better with nearly 65% growth, which is almost twice the industry growth of 38%. The high bus volume prompted the company's market share in the segment to move up to 33.9% when compared to a comparable period last year, when it was 28.2%.

Hinduja highlighted that his company had earlier indicated its intentions to drive growth in non-MHCV businesses covering aftermarket, defence, and power solutions. The results are visible, he added, as the company's domestic spare parts revenue has grown by more than 30% and power solutions volume has grown by over 40% in nine months of FY24. Defence revenue has gone up by 3.5 times over the same period last year.

New products on roll

In June last year, the auto major spelled out its target of being ready with next-generation products with alternative fuels and propulsion systems within 24 months, in addition to growing  its EV arm, Switch Mobility, and Ohm.

In terms of launching new products in Q3 FY24 across the segments including trucks, buses, LCV, and defence, Ashok Leyland introduced the Ecomet 1915 CNG, Boss 1815, AVTR 3525 8X4 10 cum RMC, 10X2 STLA haulage with 25 ft LS, 222" Viking Air-Air with AC, Stallion water browser MoD, and Dost Plus CNG.

The company, on its part, also handed over the keys to the first ever electric truck, a Boss 14-ton GVW powered with a 200 kwh battery pack, at the recently concluded Bharat Mobility show in Delhi. 

Ashok Leyland is also nearing market trials of its fully electric 55 T AVTR tractor trailer for long-haul transport, the officials added.