M038;M net down 9.9 per cent in Q3

With rising commodity costs squeezing margins,Mahindra amp; Mahindra has reported a 9.9 per cent fall in net profit for the December quarter at Rs 662 crore compared to Rs 735 crore in the same period last fiscal.

The profit for this quarter was dragged down as the company had reported a one-time exceptional profit of Rs 117 crore on sale of investment in the corresponding quarter last year. According to the company,with the exclusion of the one-time item,the post-tax profit in the reporting quarter would have shown an increase of 16 per cent. Revenue rose 37 per cent to Rs 8,327 crore.

Mamp;M president for auto and farm equipment Pawan Goenka said the companys operating margin fell by 2 percentage points to 13.8 percent during the quarter,which he maintained was the best compared with his listed peers. He said the company could not pass on input costs increases to customers that squeezed its margins. The Mamp;M scrip shed 2.88 per cent to close at Rs 689.45 on the BSE.