Farm equipment firm Escorts posts 52 percent rise to reach Rs.140 crores in December quarter

Farm equipment and engineering major Escorts on Monday reported a 52.34 percent increase in standalone net profit at Rs 140.11 crore for the third quarter ended December 2018. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 91.97 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal.

Its total income rose to Rs 1,679.47 crore, up 38.42 percent, during the third quarter as against Rs 1,213.23 crore in the year-ago period. Tractor sales rose 36 percent to 25,743 units during the third quarter of the current fiscal.

"Sales of construction equipment went up by 30 percent at 1,413 units in quarter ended December 2018 as against 1,087 units in the corresponding quarter," it added. Escorts revenue from the railway products division rose 34.1 percent to Rs 96.6 crore as against Rs 72.0 crore in the third quarter of the previous fiscal.

Its total expenses stood at Rs 1,480.37 crore as against Rs 1,083.87 crore, up 36.58 percent. Commenting on the outlook, Escorts CMD Rajan Nanda said: "With recent technology collaborations and strategic JVs with global leaders like Kubota, Tadano, and others, we aim to manufacture innovative products for emerging economies and offer unique solutions for domestic mechanized farming, smart construction and safe modern railways." Stock of the company Monday settled 4.02 percent down at Rs 674.15 apiece on the BSE.