NE BUSINESS BUREAU
CHENNAI, AUG 12
Hinduja Group’s flagship firm Ashok Leyland on Wednesday reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 389 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, owing to the coronavirus pandemic.
With virtually no operations or revenues in the first part of this quarter owing to the lock down, the demand is seen to be gradually opening up as the lock down is being eased. With virtually very low revenues, the loss before tax for the quarter was at Rs. 550 Cr (Profit before tax Rs. 361 Cr) and Loss after tax was at Rs. 389 Cr (Profit after tax Rs. 230 Cr), a release from the company said.
During the quarter the company successfully introduced its AVTR Range of Modular Vehicles in the Heavy Commercial Vehicle segment as also a completely differentiated Intermediate Commercial Vehicle range of vehicles. The BS VI “Mid-Nox” technology of the Company provides superior “Fluid Efficiency”. Both the AVTR range and “Mid-Nox” have been received very well by customers.
Mr. Vipin Sondhi, MD & CEO Ashok Leyland Limited said, “With the pandemic hitting us, this has been one of the most challenging quarters for the industry. We saw a significant decline in volumes, consequently, Ashok Leyland also saw a reduction in volume, affecting the financial performance of the company adversely. Despite the challenging times we went ahead and launched the unique Modular Business Platform “AVTR”, which gives our customers the flexibility to choose vehicles as per their requirements. This will be a game changer in the industry and we have already rolled out over 2000 of these vehicles till date this year and together with our LCV range we have already rolled out 10000 BS VI vehicles. This is indeed a very encouraging sign for the quarters to follow.”
Mr. Gopal Mahadevan, Whole Time Director & Chief Financial Officer, Ashok Leyland Limited said, “This is an exceptional quarter not just for the industry but also for the entire economy. We have used this time to drive disruptive cost efficiencies and productivity measures. The focus was also on maintaining liquidity, not just of the company but also our dealers and vendors. There have been tremendous learnings for us in doing business efficiently without dropping the ball on growth initiatives. We will come out of this much stronger”, the release added.
