Apollo Tyres Ltd. announced that for the first quarter of the financial year 2014-15, the company had net sales of $540.9 million (32.35 billion Indian Rupees [IRP]), an operating profit of $76.5 million (4.58 billion IRP) and a net profit of $38.1 million (2.28 billion IRP).
The announcement was made this week at the company’s 41st annual general meeting, when its board approved the company’s unaudited results for the first quarter of the financial year 2014-15. Shareholders also approved the annual dividend payout of 75% per share (0.75 per equity share), for the year ended March 31, 2014.
Showing signs of growth, Apollo Tyres’ says its Indian Operations registered a 6% increase in revenue in the first quarter, while European Operations, continuing its good performance, registered an increase of 18% in revenues in Q1 FY15, as compared to the same period last year.
Sale of part of its African business in the last fiscal led to the company reporting flat revenue growth on a consolidated level in the first quarter.
“Increased vehicle sales in the past quarter across geographies, and especially in India, along with a better product and market mix, helped us report good numbers in the past quarter,” said Commenting on the results, Onkar Kanwar, chairman of Apollo Tyres Ltd.
“Along with our decision to go ahead with a new Greenfield facility in Eastern Europe, we also have plans in place to expand the truck-bus radial capacity at our Chennai plant and re-jig the product mix of our facility in Kalamassery, Kerala.
“The fact that the deal did not fructify is not the real story. The real story is that your company identified future challenges and was able to make the attempt to address these to ensure an increase in your long term wealth. The real story is that as soon as we knew that Plan A was not working out, we launched Plan B, which also addresses the objectives we have identified.
“We have made the decision to go ahead with a new Greenfield plant in Eastern Europe, expand the capacity at our Chennai plant and re-jig the product mix of our facility here in Kalamassery.”
