Daily Times report by Abrar Hamza
While Honda Atlas Cars (HCAR) posted a loss of Rs 13 million in the first quarter of fiscal year 2013-14 (FY14), it has also increased its vehicles’ prices by up to Rs 30,000 owing to rising dollar value, Daily Times learnt on Tuesday.
The company following Toyota, has raised City prices by Rs 20,000 and Civic prices by Rs 30,000. The company had last increased its cars’ prices in September 2013 in the same proportion.
The new revised prices of Honda will be effective from December 1, 2013.
Because of this price hike, Civic VTEC Manual price will reach Rs 2.297 million while the City Manual Transmission will be available at Rs 1.70 million.
According to the price list issued by the company, the new price of Honda City Prosmatec Transmission will be Rs 1.844 million.
Similarly, Honda Civic’s new price will be Rs 2.065 million and Honda Civic Oriel Manual will be available at Rs 2.297 million.
Extra optional features will be available at the same old prices as the navigation can be obtained for Rs 60,500, leather interior for Rs 55,500, Honda genuine accessories utility package Rs 17,100 and extended warranty package for third year Rs 9,000.
On the other hand, Honda announced its financial results on Tuesday for the first quarter period ended September 2013 where the company posted a loss of Rs 13 million with the earnings per share (EPS) of minus Rs 0.09 during the first quarter of FY14 as compared to earnings of Rs 150 million with EPS of Rs 1.05 during the same period last fiscal.
HCAR’s net revenues depicted a decline of 4.0 percent on quarterly basis to Rs 10.46 billion during the second quarter of FY14. Cumulative revenue increased by 67 percent on yearly basis to Rs 21.37 billion during the first half of FY14 because of a low base effect that was on account of absence of the new Civic model last year.
Moreover, the company’s Completely Knocked Down (CKD) sales stood strong at 6,304 units, depicting an increase of 43 percent on yearly basis and a slight decline of 3.0 percent on quarterly basis. Global Securities’ analyst attributed this decline to a 3.0 percent increase in car prices during the first quarter of FY14 on account of 1.0 percent increase in general sales tax (GST) and rupee depreciation against the dollar.
The company’s gross profit margins during the first quarter of FY14 remained healthy at 6.9 percent as compared to 7.6 percent in the fourth quarter of FY13. The analyst believed this compression in GPM during first quarter FY14 was due to a decline in Civic sales by 11 percent on quarterly basis.
During first quarter FY14, the company’s other operating expenses, which are mainly driven by foreign exchange losses, clocked in at Rs 606 million.
The analyst said, “Our channel checks reveal that the proposals of auto assemnblers are likely to be approved by Federal Board of Revenue and Board of Investment in their upcoming meeting.”