Apollo Tyres Ltd.’s consolidated revenues from across operations in Asia, Africa and Europe increased by four per cent to reach Rs. 133 billion (or Rs. 13,310 crores) during April-March 2013-14. Net profit surged by 64 per cent to reach Rs. 10 billion (Rs. 1,000 crores). Net sales for the fourth quarter of the year grew six per cent to close at 32.1 billion (Rs. 3,212 crores).
Commenting on the results, Mr. Onkar S. Kanwar, Chairman, Apollo Tyres Ltd., said: “Last year, we saw the consolidation of our two brands – Apollo and Vredestein – and their entry into newer markets. All this, along with better product and customer mix across geographies, has helped us report incremental revenues. Recovery in the commercial vehicle segment in India in the new fiscal, after witnessing negative growth in the past year, will have a positive impact going forward. Car sales in Europe have also risen continuously for the last 3 quarters, which is again a positive for us.”
For the last quarter of 2013-14, net sales grew six per cent to close at Rs. 32.1 billion from Rs. 30.4 billion in the same quarter the previous year. Operating profit grew 20 per cent to Rs. 4.8 billion from Rs. 4 billion, and net profit stood at Rs. 2.8 billion against Rs. 1.4 billion.
The Chairman added: “We are aggressively pursuing organic growth opportunities. The increased demand for our tyres in Europe, along with capacity constraints at our existing facility in Enschede, the Netherlands, has made us prioritise our investment into a greenfield facility in the region. The Board has given us approval to initiate plant building activities in Eastern Europe at a project cost of Euro 500 million over the next 4 years, funded with accruals and debt at our European subsidiary.”
During the year, Apollo Tyres entered into a high-profile three-year partnership with Manchester United Football Club for India and the UK. It made Thailand its hub for the ASEAN region and announced its entry into Malaysia, Qatar and Jordan.
While Apollo Tyres’ Chennai unit was conferred the FICCI Quality Systems Award, Apollo Vredestein won Gold at the 4th Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards, for the Ultrac Vorti movie in the Marketing Communications category. While Apollo Apterra H/P, a high performance tyre for SUVs, was introduced at the Geneva Motor Show, the Vredestein brand of designer and high quality tyres was introduced in India.
In a move aimed at consolidating the two global brands – Apollo and Vredestein – Apollo Tyres sold the Dunlop brand rights it had for 32 countries in Africa to Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI).