M&M Q1 profit jumps 60% to ₹3,508 crore

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) on Friday reported a 60% year-on-year rise in its consolidated net profit for the quarter ended June compared with ₹2,195 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.

Revenue from operations increased 17.57% year-on-year to ₹33,406 crore in the first quarter as against ₹28,412 crore in the year-ago period.

Operating leverage drove improvement in profits by 2.2 times in auto, 58% in Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Ltd and 21% in farm business, the Anand Mahindra-led conglomerate says in a statement.

This coupled with capital allocation actions and monetisation resulted in a significant step up in Group's profitability, the statement says.

The company's automotive business clocked the highest-ever volumes in the first quarter at 186,000 units, up 21% year-on-year. Open bookings of SUVs stood at 2,81,000-plus as on August 1, 2023, reflecting continued strong automotive demand, the carmaker says. The auto segment's consolidated profit soared 200% to ₹1,401 crore while consolidated revenue rose 27% to ₹16,999 crore.

The company's farm equipment segment registered the second-highest quarterly volumes at 114,000. Farm machinery revenue grew 24% year-on-year to ₹181 crore.

"In SUVs, we continue to be leaders in revenue market share for the 6th consecutive quarter with SUV Volume crossing the 1L milestone. In the tractor business, we have achieved 42.9% market share, highest since Q2 F20. Our E-3W business continued market leadership with 65.5% market share," says Rajesh Jejurikar, executive director and CEO (Auto and Farm Sector), M&M.

Commenting on the quarterly earnings, Anish Shah, managing director and CEO of M&M, says, "During Q1, our businesses across Auto, Farm and Services delivered a strong performance. Auto led the way by strengthening its market leadership position and doubling its operating profit. Farm continues to increase market share quarter on quarter and deliver double-digit profit improvements."

In the services business, Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services' profit rose 58% while assets under management increased 28%. Mahindra Lifespaces reported residential pre-sales of ₹345 crore. Mahindra Logistics revenue grew 8% to ₹1,293 crore.

"In Services, MMFSL is on track to realise its full potential and transformation is underway at TechM," says Shah.

The earnings announcement comes a day after M&M said Singapore's sovereign wealth fund Temasek will invest ₹1,200 crore in Mahindra Electric Automobile Ltd, its four-wheeler passenger electric vehicle subsidiary, to acquire up to 2.97% stake. With this investment, Mahindra's EV subsidiary's valuation has jumped 15% from ₹70,070 crore to ₹80,580 crore. "By having Temasek as an investor, we have strengthened our global strategic partnerships and are targeting 20% to 30% of Mahindra SUVs sales from electric vehicles by 2027," said Jejurikar.