M&M Q4 Results: Profit Rises 32% On Higher SUV Sales, Revenue Up 12%

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. grew its bottom line by nearly 50% in fiscal 2024 as record SUV sales more than offset the cyclical pain seen in the tractor business.

Standalone net profit of the Scorpio-maker rose 31.6% year-on-year to Rs 2,038 crore in the quarter-ended March 31, 2024, on the back of revenue that increased 12.5% to Rs 25,436 crore, according to an exchange filing on Thursday. Analysts polled by Bloomberg had estimated the top line at Rs 24,029 crore and the bottom line at Rs 1,815 crore.

• Revenue up 12.5% to Rs 25,436 crore (Estimate: Rs 24,029 crore).

• Ebitda up 21.7% to Rs 3,446 crore (Estimate: Rs 3,057 crore).

• Ebitda margin expands 100 basis points to 13.5% (Estimate: 12.7%).

• Net profit up 31.6% to Rs 2,038 crore (Estimate: Rs 1,815 crore).

• Dividend of Rs 21.10 per share declared.

Note: One basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.

For the full fiscal, standalone net profit rose 48% year-on-year to Rs 10,718 crore on the back of revenue that increased 17% to Rs 1,01,219 crore. The firm’s operational profit—measured as earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation—rose 25.35% to Rs 15,122.16 crore, even as profitability margin improved 101 bps to 14.93%.

“It has been an excellent year with most of our businesses delivering a high level of performance—auto continued its high-growth trajectory, the farm business gained market share in a tough market,” Anish Shah, chief executive officer at Mahindra Group, said at a post-earnings media scrum.

“The company is now looking at a mid- to high-teens growth in this fiscal, which will help it grow sales beyond half-a-million units.”

In the fiscal-ended March 31, 2024, M&M sold a total of 4,59,864 SUVs—up 28.82% from 3,56,961 units in FY23, according to data released by industry body, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. Tractor sales dipped 7% year-on-year to 3,74,955 units.

In FY24, Mahindra was India’s largest SUV maker by revenue, with a market share of 20.4%—up 130 bps from a year earlier. The company enjoys 49% (up 350 bps) market share in the light commercial vehicle segment and 41.6% (up 40 bps) among tractors.

As on May 1, M&M had open order bookings of 2,20,000 units, including 50,000 units of the XUV 3XO as on May 15. The company exited FY24 with a production capacity of 49,000 units per month, as against 39,000 units per month in FY23.

“We believe we now have a strong execution track record, a strong brand and momentum that we built in…,” Rajesh Jejurikar, CEO of Mahindra's automotive and farm division, told analysts during a post-earnings call. “We will have a very good product portfolio to fully leverage as we go into the next three-year cycle.”

On Thursday, M&M shares rose to an all-time high after the announcement of the quarterly earnings, but pared some of the gains to end the day 3.05% higher at Rs 2,375.85 apiece. The benchmark Sensex rose 0.93% to 73,662.72 points.