ASK Automotive Pins Revenue Boost Hopes On Capacity Utilisation At New Facilities

Capacity utilisation from ASK Automotive’s Karoli and upcoming Bengaluru facilities will help the company maintain margins and boost revenue in the near term, said Chairman and Managing Director Kuldip Singh Rathee.

The company released its financial results for the quarter that ended Sept. 2024, reporting its highest-ever quarterly revenue and net profit.

ASK Automotive’s revenue surged 22% on a year-on-year basis to Rs 976 crore during the second quarter of the current financial year from Rs 798 crore a year ago.

Net profit of the advanced braking system manufacturer jumped 63% YoY to Rs 67 crore in Q2FY25, as compared to Rs 41 crore in the year-ago period. The Ebitda margin in the September quarter stood at 12.2% for ASK Automotive.

Rathee told NDTV Profit that the second half of the year will be equally good as H1. 

He pointed out that the capacity utilisation from the company’s Karoli facility in Rajasthan has helped it become Ebitda-positive. “The Karoli facility has contributed substantially to these results and it will keep on contributing as the capacity utilisation increases in the times to come.”

He said that the subsidies awaited from the Rajasthan government will start flowing in from Q4. “I feel that we will continue to maintain the substantial improvement that we have achieved in this financial year. I am now very confident that we will maintain at least 12% Ebitda margins,” the ASK Automotive CMD added.

The company has so far invested Rs 425 crore in this facility, Rathee said, adding that the plant was at almost 50% of utilisation.

Rathee said that construction on the upcoming unit in Bengaluru had started in March this year. “We will start the operations in the next quarter. Once we start the operations after the initial streamlining, all the revenues will start coming from the next financial year,” the top executive said.

While expressing confidence over ASK Automotive outperforming the industry, he pointed out that all three segments of the company including advanced braking systems, aluminium lightweight precision solutions and safety control cables outperformed the industry in Q2.

“Our advanced braking system and cable divisions grew by 18%, and the aluminium lightweight precision segment grew by 27%. I told you last time that this was our sunrise sector and will outgrow the other sectors,” he said.

Shares of ASK Automotive Ltd. was trading 1.66% higher at Rs 440.45 apiece, compared to the benchmark Nifty 50 that was 0.55% lower.