India's VST Tillers Tractors Q2 profit falls 29% on subdued growth

VST Tillers Tractors

31/10/2022 08:58

Oct 31 (Reuters) - India's VST Tillers Tractors Ltd
 VST.NS  reported a 29.3% drop in second-quarter profit on
Monday, as the agricultural machinery maker was hit by subdued
growth in power tillers and weak tractor sales.
    The company's profit stood at 227.4 million Indian rupees
($2.8 million) for the quarter ended Sept. 30, down from 321.5
million rupees, a year earlier.
    Revenue from operations rose a marginal 0.3% to 2.34 billion
rupees, VST said.
    Like the previous quarter, VST was hit by higher commodity
costs in the latest quarter as well, with cost of materials
increasing by 9.7%.
    Sales volumes of power tillers, which accounted for roughly
84% of total volumes in the quarter, rose 2.2%.
    Tractors sales volumes, which accounted for roughly 16% of
total volumes, slid 27.4% from the year-ago quarter when the
overall industry benefited from pent-up demand as COVID-19
lockdowns eased.
    Analysts have said tractor sales came under pressure in the
latest quarter due to uneven monsoon and a partial delay in
kharif sowing.
 
 ($1 = 82.4480 Indian rupees)
 (Reporting by Dimpal Gulwani; Editing by Savio D'Souza)
 ((Dimpal.Gulwani@thomsonreuters.com;))