Indian battery-maker Exide Industries beat fourth-quarter profit expectations on Tuesday, helped by higher demand in its automotive and industrial products segments.
Battery makers are set to benefit as sales of electric vehicles, which are powered by lithium-ion batteries, are expected to rise 66% this year in India after nearly doubling in 2023, according to research firm Counterpoint.
Exide, which earns two-thirds of its revenue from the automotive market, plans to deepen its presence in the sector as it aims to start making lithium-ion cells by the current fiscal year.
Earlier this month, South Korea’s Hyundai Motor and Kia Corp partnered with Exide Industries‘ unit Exide Energy Solutions to supply batteries for their EVs.
Exide’s standalone profit after tax rose 36.6% from a year ago to 2.84 billion rupees (USD 34 million) in the quarter ended March 31, beating analysts’ estimate of 2.72 billion rupees as per LSEG data.
Revenue from operations climbed 13.2% to 40.09 billion rupees, while total expenses rose to 36.31 billion rupees.
Analysts had expected revenue of 40.31 billion rupees.
Shares of the company, which were up 2.5% earlier in the day, jumped as much as 5.7% to 481.65 rupees following the results.”Outlook is positive both for the automotive and industrial verticals and we aim to deliver healthy sales growth and increase in profitability in near-to-medium term,” CEO Subir Chakraborty said.
“Our lithium-ion cell manufacturing project is progressing well and is expected to be commissioned within defined timelines.”
