Apollo Tyres Q1 net up 79% to Rs 138 cr; stock up 4%

Consolidated net sales went up by 12% to Rs 3,165 crore from Rs 2,822.4 crore during the same period.

Topline as well as bottomline were in-line with analysts' expectations of Rs 3,340 crore and Rs 135 crore, respectively.

Operating profit increased 48% year-on-year to Rs 361 crore in the first quarter.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin jumped 290 basis points to 11.4% YoY.

South Africa's business saw improvement in the quarter gone by, which posted EBIT at Rs 5.3 crore as against loss of Rs 11.8 crore quarter-on-quarter.

In India, Apollo has established a clear leadership in the growing truck-bus radial tyres, registering a growth of 60% in the quarter; while in South Africa passenger vehicle tyre sales moved higher by 32%. European operations, even in a slowdown situation continued to maintain topline growth and profitability expanded by close to 50%.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Neeraj Kanwar of Apollo Tyres said the second quarter would be much better than the first quarter as raw material cost would be stable in the July-September quarter.

He sees double-digit growth in revenue in the current financial year (2012-13), but "an interest cost would be elevated due to Chennai expansion," he said.

At 13:21 hours IST, the share shot up more than 4% to Rs 82.80 amid large volumes.