M&M continued its recent uptrend on Monday after notching up a solid jump in vehicle sales in March 2003.

The upbeat sentiment set off by the numbers saw the scrip of the tractor and utility vehicles maker edge up 1.22% to Rs 107.50 on BSE by 10:10 IST. By then, it had recovered from its low of Rs 106 but it had also touched an earlier high of Rs 107.65.

A total of 15,236 Mahindra & Mahindra shares were traded on BSE by then. The scrip has done pretty well of late, too. Between 1 and 4 April 2003, M&M climbed 9.5% to Rs 106.20 from Rs 97.

After market hours Friday, M&M announced that it sold 10,615 vehicles in its auto division in March 2003, up 61% compared to a year ago. M&M said its March 2003 sales of utility vehicles rose by 56% to 8,880 units, and that of light commercial trucks grew 27% to 515 units. Sales of three-wheeled motorised rickshaws soared 139% to 1,220 units.

On the flip side, the company registered a 26.2% fall in tractor sales to 4,500 units. This brought down overall sales growth to just 19% to 15,115 vehicles.

Total sales volumes in the auto division leaped up 33% for the year to March 2003, to 85,837 vehicles. The company did not give details of annual tractor sales.

Impressive sales figures for March 2003 were attributed to the reduction in excise duty from 32% to 24% for utility vehicle. For FY 2002-03, UVs recorded 23.1% growth, spurred on by the newly launched Scorpio. The Scorpio recorded its highest sales volumes since its launch (in July 2002) in March 2003 (2,200 units). For FY 2002-03, Scorpio recorded sales volumes of 11,503 vehicles. Excluding Scorpio from total UV sales volume, the old basket of M&M UVs recorded a mere 2.6% increase in FY 2002-03. Sales of light commercial vehicle and three-wheelers continued to be buoyant due to state enterprise orders and low base respectively.

Analysts are upbeat about the future of M&M and expect the company to come out with good performances in FY 2003-04, especially in the utility vehicles segment due to the focus on exports. However, tractors could continue to remain subdued for the next two quarters. But it is hoped that a good monsoon will lift up that segment.

For the third quarter ended 31 December 2002, M&M registered a 16% rise in net profit to Rs 30.79 crore compared to Rs 26.55 crore in the corresponding period last year. Net sales increased by 4.6% to Rs 960 crore (Rs 9.6 billion) from Rs 917.79 crore (Rs 9.17 billion) in DQ 2001.

As on 31 December 2002, the promoters holding in M&M was 26.3%, while that of the public and institutions was 16.38% and 34.24%, respectively.

BSE code: 500520