Indian tyre maker MRF beats quarterly profit estimates on demand for replacement tyres

JK Tyre & Industries

07/05/2025 08:51

May 7 (Reuters) - Indian tyre maker MRF MRF.NS reported a fourth-quarter profit above analysts estimates on Wednesday, as stronger replacement demand from retail customers outpaced muted sales to carmakers.

The company, which supplies to truckmakers such as Ashok Leyland ASOK.NS, posted an 31% jump in net profit to 4.98 billion rupees ($59 million) for the quarter ended March 31.

That beat analysts' average estimate of 3.57 billion rupees, as per data compiled by LSEG.

MRF's revenue from operations climbed 12% to 69.44 billion rupees, roughly in-line with analysts' estimates of 69.78 billion rupees.

MRF also declared a record dividend of 229 rupees.

KEY CONTEXT

The growth in India's car sales has moderated to 8% in 2024 and 2% so far in 2025, from 12% in 2022 and 27% in 2023. That has lead to weak demand for new tyres.

However, the demand to replace tyres on older vehicle has remained steady.

MRF's rival CEAT CEAT.NS missed its quarterly profit estimates.

PEER COMPARISON

Estimates (next 12 months)
Analysts' sentiment
RIC
PE
EV/EBITDA
Revenue growth (%)
Profit growth (%)
Mean rating*
# of analysts
Stock to price target**
Div yield (%)
MRF
MRF.NS
27.27
12.32
7.95
25.51
Hold
4
1.17
0.15
CEAT
CEAT.NS
19.02
7.95
13.82
--
Buy
17
0.97
0.87
JK Tyre
JKIN.NS
11.56
6.87
6.86
32.16
Buy
5
0.79
1.40
Apollo Tyres
APLO.NS
16.91
8.04
7.09
35.01
Buy
25
0.98
1.23

* The mean of analysts' ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell

** The ratio of the stock's last close to analysts' mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT

JANUARY TO MARCH STOCK PERFORMANCE

-- All data from LSEG

-- $1 = 84.6300 Indian rupees

JANUARY TO MARCH STOCK PERFORMANCE https://tmsnrt.rs/3EXRfE9

 (Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)

 ((Kashish.Tandon@thomsonreuters.com; 8800437922;))