Maruti Suzuki's Q1 net profit rises by 23%; shares close down nearly 2%

India's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) on Tuesday posted a 23.02% rise in standalone net profit of Rs 1486.2 crore, beating the estimates for the quarter ended on June 30. 

The shares of the company closed at Rs 4478 per piece, down 1.60%. It hit a high at Rs 4584.95 and low at Rs 4460.

The company had registered net profit of Rs 1208.1 crore during same period last year. In Q1FY17, the company's net sales rose to Rs 14,655 crore as compared to Rs 13,078.3 crore last year.

In a regulatory filing, the company said, "The profit in the quarter was helped by a higher turnover, material cost reduction, higher non-operating income and lower depreciation. Adverse foreign exchange movement reduced profit to some extent".

According to the filing, the company sold 3,48,443 units during April-June period, which is a growth of 2.1% as against a year ago. This includes 3,22,340 units in the domestic market, a rise of 5.4%. However, the exports during the quarter stood at 26,103 units.

"The growth in the first two months of the quarter had been 10.2% but the unfortunate incident of fire at a key vendor of the company resulted in lower sales in 2016".

The company said it hopes to recover the lost sales during the course of the year.