India's Exide Industries beats Q4 profit view on higher demand

Exide Industries

30/04/2024 09:59

BENGALURU, April 30 (Reuters) - 
    Indian battery-maker Exide Industries  EXID.NS  beat
fourth-quarter profit expectations on Tuesday, helped by higher
demand in its automotive and industrial products segments.
  

        WHY IT'S IMPORTANT
  
    Battery makers are set to benefit as sales of electric
vehicles, which are powered by lithium-ion batteries, are
expected to rise 66% this year in India after nearly doubling in
2023, according to research firm Counterpoint.
        Exide, which earns two-thirds of its revenue from the
automotive market, plans to deepen its presence in the sector as
it aims to start making lithium-ion cells by the current fiscal
year.
  
    Earlier this month, South Korea's Hyundai Motor  005380.KS 
and Kia Corp  000270.KS  partnered with Exide Industries' unit
Exide Energy Solutions to supply batteries for their EVs.

        BY THE NUMBERS
  
    Exide's standalone profit after tax rose 36.6% from a year
ago to 2.84 billion rupees ($34 million) in the quarter ended
March 31, beating analysts' estimate of 2.72 billion rupees as
per LSEG data.
    Revenue from operations climbed 13.2% to 40.09 billion
rupees, while total expenses rose to 36.31 billion rupees.
    Analysts had expected revenue of 40.31 billion rupees.
                     
    MARKET REACTION
  
        Shares of the company, which were up 2.5% earlier in the
day, jumped as much as 5.7% to 481.65 rupees following the
results. 
        
  
    KEY QUOTES
  
    "Outlook is positive both for the automotive and industrial
verticals and we aim to deliver healthy sales growth and
increase in profitability in near-to-medium term," CEO Subir
Chakraborty said.
    "Our lithium-ion cell manufacturing project is progressing
well and is expected to be commissioned within defined
timelines."
        
  
($1 = 83.4852 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Rama Venkat in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K)
 ((ramavenkat.raman@thomsonreuters.com; https://twitter.com/ramavenkat0607;
 +91 8095218099;))