India's JK Tyre reports nearly three-fold increase in Q4 profit

JK Tyre & Industries

17/05/2023 13:51

BENGALURU, May 17 (Reuters) - India's JK Tyre &
Industries Ltd  JKIN.NS  on Wednesday reported a nearly
three-fold rise in fourth-quarter profit, as raw material costs
fell and domestic demand saw a boost. 
    The tyre-maker's consolidated net profit rose to 1.08
billion rupees ($13.2 million) in the quarter ended March 31,
from 402 million rupees a year earlier, it said in an exchange
filing. 
    The company, which supplies to Maruti Suzuki India Ltd
 MRTI.NS  and Tata Motors Ltd  TAMO.NS , posted an almost 10%
growth in revenue from operations. 
    Rubber prices have softened 3% from the December quarter,
when the effects of easing prices had already begun reflecting
in the company's bottomline. 
    Its cost of raw materials fell more than 4% to 21.28 billion
rupees in fourth quarter, compared with a 21% rise the
tyre-maker reported last year. 
    "We remain optimistic on the tyre industry growth path in
the coming year, buoyed by an uptick in economic activities and
the big push in infrastructure growth," the company said in a
statement. 
    Indian automakers had recorded higher sales in the March
quarter as consumers snapped up passenger and commercial
vehicles ahead of price increases on implementation of tighter
fuel emission norms.
    Rival tyre-makers MRF Ltd  MRF.NS , CEAT Ltd  CEAT.NS , and
Apollo Tyres Ltd  APLO.NS  all reported between a two- and
five-time rise in quarterly profit.
    Shares of JK Tyre settled 0.4% higher ahead of its results,
taking YTD gains to 8.4%. 
    
($1 = 81.7800 Indian rupees)
    

 (Reporting by Varun Vyas in Bengaluru; Editing by Shweta
Agarwal)
 ((varunvyas.hebbalalu@thomsonreuters.com;))