Ashok Leyland (ALL) held a conference call on 15 Feb 2019. Mr Gopal Mahadevan, CFO and Mr K M Balaji, VP, Corporate Finance took the queries of the call.
Key Points from the discussion:
The management commented that Q4FY19 and Q1FY20 domestic MHCV industry outlook remainmuted due to high base.
The company expects growth in FY20 due to pre-buying but flat performance in FY21.
ALL's focus remains on cost-cutting efforts and targets 150bps in savings as a result of the introductionof a modular platform in 2020-21.
ALL's exports have gone down owing to weakness in key export markets due to crude volatility and political uncertainty. But the company expects some improvements ahead.
ALL's blended discounts for MHCVs have been increasing and currently are at around Rs 420,000/unit.
Amalgamation of LCV subsidiaries would help in improvement in margins and also provide one-time tax benefits of Rs 250 crore in FY19.
ALL's focus remains on launching more products in the LCV segment and also intermediate commercial vehicle segment. The company is readying a roll-out of a series of products including a new model range under a new brand between now and end of FY21.
ALL will be investing around Rs 1,000 crore as capex in next financial year. These would be in areas of electric vehicles, light commercial vehicles and capacity enhancement programs.
In the current financial year the company has already spent Rs 600 crore towards capex by end of December and a further Rs 200-300 crore is earmarked for the current quarter.
The company plans to expand in 4T and 7T segments. It will be moving down from the 12T segment and moving up from 1.25T segment
A new range under Pheonix which will be completely different from the current range will be launched in about one and one and half years in the LCV segment.
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