Ashok Leyland reports ₹389 crore net loss for June quarter

Hinduja Group flagship firm Ashok Leyland on Wednesday reported a consolidated net loss of ₹388.82 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, owing to the coronavirus pandemic.

The commercial vehicle maker had posted a net profit of ₹274.96 crore for the April-June 2019 quarter.

Revenue from operations in April-June 2020 significantly declined to Rs1,486.04 crore as compared with ₹6,588.23 crore in the year-ago period, Ashok Leyland said in a regulatory filing.

"With the pandemic hitting us, this has been one of the most challenging quarters for the industry," Ashok Leyland MD and CEO Vipin Sondhi said.

The company saw a significant decline in volumes, affecting the financial performance adversely, he added.

Despite challenging times, the company went ahead and launched the modular business platform that gives customers the flexibility to choose vehicles as per their requirements, Sondhi said.

"This will be a game changer in the industry, and we have already rolled out over 2,000 of these vehicles till date this year and together with our LCV (light commercial vehicle) range, we have already rolled out 10,000 BS 6 vehicles. This is an encouraging sign for the quarters to follow," he added.

Ashok Leyland Chief Financial Officer Gopal Mahadevan said this is an exceptional quarter not just for the industry but also for the entire economy. "We have used this time to drive disruptive cost efficiencies and productivity measures."

The focus is also on maintaining liquidity, not just of the company but also of dealers and vendors, he noted.

"There have been tremendous learnings for us in doing business efficiently without dropping the ball on growth initiatives. We will come out of this much stronger," Mahadevan said.