Oct. 25: With high raw material cost and increased competition weighing heavily on its bottomline, Hero Honda Motors has reported a 9.24 per cent dip in net profit at Rs 216 crore in the July-September quarter and unveiled two new variants to drive growth. The company’s turnover, however, went up 3.6 per cent in the second quarter to Rs 2,289 crore from Rs 2,209 crore a year ago.

Hero Honda, which launched two bikes this fiscal, announced the launch of two variants — the new ‘Glamour’ and ‘Passion Plus’ limited edition. It had already launched ‘Glamour FI’ and ‘CBZ X-treme’ models this fiscal and had announced it will launch eight bikes, including variants, in 2006-07.

Engaged in a cut-throat competition with rival Bajaj Auto, the company saw EBIDTA margins come down to 13 per cent against around 15.4 per cent in same quarter last fiscal.

Texmaco income

Texmaco, a KK Birla group firm, has posted a 16 per cent rise in its gross sales to Rs 101 crore from Rs 87 crore in the same quarter last year. Net profit grew 25 per cent to Rs 5.98 crore from Rs 4.8 crore.

ECL earnings up

Electrosteel Castings Ltd (ECL) has reported a 52 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 29.51 crore in the second quarter of this fiscal from Rs 19.39 crore a year ago. Net sales grew 4 per cent to Rs 259.97 crore from Rs 249.72 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

TVS Motor net dips

TVS Motor Company Ltd’s net profit dipped 22.28 per cent to Rs 24.83 crore for the quarter ended September 30 from Rs 31.95 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.

Total income increased 33.52 per cent to Rs 1,088.75 crore for the quarter from Rs 815.36 crore in the same quarter last year, the company has informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The company also said its board had declared an interim dividend of 70 paise per share on about 23.75 crore equity shares of Re 1 each (70 per cent).

M&M Financial

Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services has posted an 8 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 30.33 crore for the quarter ended September 30 from Rs 27.97 crore for the corresponding quarter in 2005-06.

Total revenue for the second quarter this fiscal rose to Rs 196.52 crore, up 37 per cent from Rs 142.94 crore during the year-ago period, the company, a part of the $3.04-billion Mahindra group, has informed the National Stock Exchange.