ASHOK LEYLAND: BOSS 913 LX
Not everywhere is enjoying expanding markets and signs of growth it seems.
Chennai-based, Indian transport giant, Ashok Leyland, recording a 10% decline, sold only 7847 units this July as against 8746 units purchased in July 2013.
Founded in 1948, Ashok Leyland is the second largest commercial vehicle manufacturers in India, fourth largest manufacturer of buses in the world and sixteenth largest manufacturer of trucks globally.
Cumulative sales for the April to July period of FY 2014-15 stood at 27,787 units against 30,470 units recorded during the same period in previous fiscal year, registering a decline of 9%.
The Company did, however, registered a 4.8% increase in turnover – Rupees 2,477.80 crores for the quarter ended June 30, 2014, as against Rupees 2,363.81 crores of the corresponding quarter in 2013.
An EBITDA margin of 4.7% for the first quarter reflects the Company’s efforts at improving net realization, reducing material costs, and controlling operating overheads; and is a significant improvement over 1.0% for the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal year.
The company made a net loss of Rupees 47.95 crores, significantly lower than the net loss of Rupees 141.75 crores in the same period last year.
Vinod K. Dasari, Managing Director at Ashok Leyland Limited said: “Although TIV dropped by 10%, we increased our share by 2.3% – largely on account of the outstanding performances of our ICV, tipper, and tractor segments.
“Our new products such as BOSS continue to perform exceedingly well, and several variants are planned in our LCV range as well.
“We are also quite excited about the prospects of CAPTAIN and JANBUS.
“We are confident the market will strengthen and we will continue our efforts at offering class-leading products and services to our customers.”
Operating six plants, Ashok Leyland also makes spare parts and engines for industrial and marine applications, selling about 60,000 vehicles and about 7,000 engines annually.
British based Leyland Motors joined Ashok in 1954 with equity participation by Leyland Motors, changing the name of the company to Ashok Leyland and started manufacturing commercial vehicles.
Under Leyland’s management, with both British expatriate and Indian executives, the company grew in strength to become one of India’s foremost commercial vehicle manufacturers before collaboration ended sometime in 1975, though, through the holding of British Leyland, technology assistance continued until the 1980s.
