M&M turns red with Rs 3-crore loss in Q2

Our Corporate Bureau

Mumbai, Oct 30: Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd (M&M) has registered a net loss of Rs 2.67 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2001 as against a profit of Rs 13.17 crore for the same period last year.
Net sales and operating income for the second quarter stood at Rs 761.1 crore as against Rs 839.94 crore for the same period last year. The company has also incurred an exceptional item charge for voluntary retirement scheme of Rs 8.37 crore for the quarter. The net loss for the half year-ended September 30, 2001 stood at Rs 21.79 crore as against a profit of Rs 47.45 crore in the same period last year.

M&M has been hit mainly on account of the negative growth witnessed in the tractor industry for the quarter under review. The sale of tractors stood at 13,191 units as against 20,358 units sold in the same quarter last year. The company has attributed this mainly to uncertainty and pressures on agricultural incomes.

In the utility vehicles segment, M&M sold 13,133 vehicles in the domestic market, which represented an eight per cent growth over 12,173 vehicles sold in September quarter last fiscal. In the LCV segment, M&M sold 1,444 vehicles in the current quarter, a marginal fall over 1,473 units sold last year. In both segments, the company has outperformed the market and, thereby, improved its market share to 44.6 per cent in utility vehicles and 12.3 per cent in LCVs.