It isn’t surprising that almost all the organizations have suffered losses as compared to the previous financial quarters, owing to the nationwide lockdown which ensued in the month of March. For the quarter ended March 31, 2020, Eicher Motors’ total revenue from operations was recorded at Rs. 2,208 crores, down by 12% as compared to Rs. 2,500 crores in the corresponding quarter of FY 2018-19; EBITDA was Rs. 432 crores, down 37% as compared to Rs. 685 crores in the same quarter of the previous financial year; Profit After Tax was Rs. 304 crores as compared to Rs. 545 crores during the same period last year.
How did Royal Enfield perform?
Eicher Motors’ subsidiary Royal Enfield sold 163,083 motorcycles in the quarter, a decline of 17% from 197,567 motorcycles sold over the same period in FY2018-19. For the Financial Year ended March 31, 2020, Royal Enfield’s total revenue from operations was down by 7% to Rs. 9,154 crores, compared to Rs. 9,797 crores recorded for the year ended March 2019; EBITDA was Rs. 2,180 crores, down by 25% compared to Rs 2,903 crores; Profit After Tax was recorded at Rs. 1,827 crores as compared to Rs. 2,203 crores in the same period last year.
Royal Enfield sold 697,582 motorcycles in the year, down 15% from 822,724 motorcycles sold in FY 2018-19. Motorcycle sales to international markets have shown significant growth of 96% at close to 38,700 motorcycles, over the previous financial year.
Commenting on Eicher Motors’ performance, Siddhartha Lal, Managing Director of Eicher MotorsLtd, said, “This has been a tough year overall for the industry, and the global pandemic during the last quarter brought with it unprecedented challenges and disruptive changes. At Eicher Motors, we have witnessed the impact of this situation, but have chosen to focus on the opportunities within these problems. With a commitment to our long term plans, we moved swiftly to tackle the roadblocks, to safeguard our businesses and to do our bit towards relief and support measures. Now, as the lockdown is easing out, we see strong initial customer interest and confidence. Both at Royal Enfield and VECV, we have transitioned our entire product portfolio to the new BS-VI emission norms, and also managed to sell our entire BS-IV inventory well ahead of the mandated timeline. Our BS-VI products have received great feedback from customers and we have planned a strong product line-up going forward. We have built our businesses on solid fundamentals. We have a strong balance sheet and cash position, a robust business model with a very focused approach, and an exceptional management team at Royal Enfield and VECV. This has helped us tremendously in facing current challenges and gives us the confidence that we will emerge stronger from this crisis”
Speaking on Royal Enfield’s performance, Vinod K. Dasari, CEO, Royal Enfield said, “Through a challenging year, Royal Enfield has remained focused on sharpening the customer experience with an emphasis on a seamless and differentiated brand interface. We have had the best ever export performance in international markets during the year with a 96% increase as compared to last year. We have introduced new products and new initiatives to create better accessibility and build increased engagement. While new variants of the Bullet and Classic brought in more accessibility in product, the 600+ new Studio Stores created accessibility in terms of reach and footprint and brought the pure motorcycling experience closer to customers. The Royal Enfield Slide School has built an engaging and accessible entry into flat-track racing. Our global online community has been growing at a significant rate over the last year – we now have a 7.5 million-strong online community. Over the last few months, various digital campaigns we’ve run have fuelled conversations and have increased overall engagement between 50%-80% across different platforms. Going forward, we will focus on enhancing this digital engagement and the overall purchase and ownership experience through newer, more seamless digital platforms”
Also Read: Royal Enfield Reopens More Than 90% Of Its Retail Network Across the Country
The last quarter of this fiscal was particularly challenging in the wake of the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic. Royal Enfield’s manufacturing and retail operations were suspended between March 23rd and May 5th as per Government directives. The company has since resumed operations, and more than 90% of its retail network is now operational. The Eicher Motors Group has pledged an initial CSR outlay of Rs. 50 crore towards various immediate relief and support measures to tackle the pandemic.