Ashok Leyland shares surge 3.55%, hit record high after December sales rise 27%

Shares of the Chennai-based commercial vehicle maker Ashok Leyland rose as much as 3.55% to hit a record high of ₹185.56 on the National Stock Exchange on Thursday, January 1. On the BSE, Ashok Leyland shares advanced as much as 3.6% to hit an all-time high of ₹185.55 after it reported sales data for the month of December.

Ashok Leyland's total sales in December rose 27% to 21,533 units compared with 16,957 units it sold in the same month last year. Its sales of medium and heavy commercial vehicle(M&HCV) trucks in domestic market advanced 27% to 11,387 units and sales of M&HCV busses jumped 44% to 2,166 units.

Its total domestic M&HCV sales advanced 29% to 13,553 units compared with 10,488 units it sold in December last year.

Ashok Leyland's domestic light commercial vehicle (LCV) sales climbed 21% to 6,302 units as against 5,225 units.

Ashok Leyland Q2 earnings

Ashok Leyland in November last year reported net profit of ₹771 crore in the second quarter of current financial year, marking a marginal increase of 0.13% from ₹770 crore in the same period last year.

The Chennai-based company's revenue from operations rose 9% in July-September period to ₹9,588 crore from ₹8,769 crore in the year-ago period.

Ashok Leyland reported stable operational performance in September quarter as its EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) also known as operating profit advanced 14% to ₹1,162 crore as against ₹1,017 crore, a year earlier.

The company's EBITDA margin improved by 50 basis points to 12.12%.

Ashok Leyland's board of directors approved an interim dividend of ₹1 per share and the company informed exchanges that the said interim dividend, would be paid, on or before December 11, 2025.

The company has fixed November 18 as the record date for determining the members eligible to receive the interim dividend.

"Both MHCV and LCV industry witnessed positive growth in Q2. Ashok Leyland volume in Q2 saw a jump of 3% in MHCV (from 25,542 to 26,307 units) and 6% in the LCV segment (from 16,629 to 17,697 units) on YoY basis," Ashok Leyland said.

As of 2:40 pm, Ashok Leyland shares traded 2.82% higher at ₹184, outperforming the NIFTY Auto index which was up nearly 1%.