Honda Atlas earnings cross Rs2b

Company announces surprise dividend of Rs4.18 per share

KARACHI: Honda Atlas Cars (Pakistan) Limited has posted an impressive profit of Rs2.09 billion in the quarter ended June 30, 2017, up 99% compared to Rs1.05 billion in the same period of the previous year, according to a company notice sent to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Tuesday.

Earnings per share (EPS) amounted to Rs14.61 in the April-June 2017 quarter compared to Rs7.36 in the corresponding period of previous year. Along with the results, the company announced a surprise dividend of Rs4.18 per share.

Its earnings were better than analyst expectations. Earlier, a Taurus Securities’ report predicted a net profit of Rs1.80 billion (EPS Rs12.58) in the June quarter.

Honda Atlas Cars’ stock closed 2.86% higher at Rs684.78 at the PSX. The benchmark KSE 100-share Index ended the day with a gain of 388 points or 0.85% at 45,917.

Revenues of the automobile company stood at Rs21.06 billion, registering a whopping 100% year-on-year growth, largely because of 54% year-on-year jump in volumes on the back of strong sales of the new Civic model coupled with successful launch of the BR-V variant.

Honda Atlas Cars’ margins during the quarter under review settled at 14.20% (down 7.5 percentage points year-on-year and up 13.35 percentage points quarter-on-quarter).

The rise in gross margins quarter-on-quarter was primarily due to favourable rupee-yen exchange rate as the yen depreciated 2.3% and higher volume growth, according to a Taurus Securities report.

As demand for the new Civic model continued to pour in, coupled with bookings for the BR-V variant, the availability of cash from advance bookings led to 265% year-on-year jump in other income that stood at Rs466 million for the first quarter of marketing year 2018 (1QMY18) against Rs128 million in 1QMY17.

The company’s full-year earnings in the year ended March 2017 were calculated at Rs6.13 billion, up 72% compared to Rs3.55 billion in the previous year.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 26^th, 2017.

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