— PHOTO: PAUL NORONHA

FOR UPMARKET, MASSMARKET: Anand Mahindra (left), Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Mahindra & Mahindra, with Bharat Doshi, Executive Director, at a press conference in Mumbai on Monday.

MUMBAI: Powered by a strong sales performance by its automotive and farm equipment sectors, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) has, on a stand-alone basis, announced a net profit (after exceptional items, prior-period adjustments and tax) of Rs. 1,068.40 crore, a 25 per cent jump over Rs. 857.10 crore reported in the previous year. The profit before exceptional items was Rs. 1,315.70 crore (Rs. 889.50 crore), an increase of 46.7 per cent. Gross revenues and other income during the year were up 22.3 per cent at Rs. 11,558 crore (Rs. 9,451 crore).

The exceptional items relate to Rs. 89-crore profit from the Tech Mahindra IPO and Rs. 15.55-crore profit from sales of some long term investments.

Special dividend

The directors have recommended a final dividend of 25 per cent and a special dividend of 15 per cent, aggregating Rs. 4 per share. The special dividend is being recommended in light of the successful listing of Tech Mahindra.

On a stand-alone basis, for the fourth quarter, M&M reported a normalised profit of Rs. 238.60 crore (Rs. 175.60 crore), an increase of 36 per cent. Gross revenues and other income were up 20.6 per cent at Rs. 3,176.50 crore (Rs. 2,632.80 crore). The profit before exceptional items and tax was Rs. 308 crore (Rs. 241 crore). There was an exceptional profit of Rs. 10 crore on sale of long-term investments and a prior-period charge of Rs. 19.19 crore.

The company's automotive sector is now planning to launch two new platforms while working already on the new Ingenio. It has started work on a new sports utility vehicle (SUV) platform.

Addressing the media here on Monday, Pawan Goenka, President, Automotive Sector, M&M, said, "the new SUV platform will be slightly more upmarket than the current offerings. The second platform we are working on is a mass market vehicle for cargo and for passengers.''

While the Ingenio will be launched from M&M's Nashik plant, the mass market vehicle will come from the new Pune plant and the new SUV from the Chennai plant. The company will invest around Rs. 600 crore each on the two new platforms. Mr. Goenka said that although the company's automotive sector had seen growth rates of 20 per cent plus in the last three years, this was unlikely to continue. "I do not see a significant slowdown but we can expect a growth of 8-12 per cent this year.''

A. Chaudhari, President, Farm Equipment Sector, M&M, said the company would be investing around Rs. 350 crore in product development and capacity expansion over two years. "However, with the acquisition of Punjab Tractors, we may postpone some investment in capacity expansion as we have access to 65,000 units capacity from the acquisition.'' Anand Mahindra, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, M&M, said, "we are now focused on completing the acquisition process of Punjab Tractors. The offer for Punjab Tractors opens on Monday and will be completed by the end of the month. By virtue of this acquisition, we have also acquired 14 per cent stake in Swaraj Mazda but there is nothing further required to be done for now.''

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