New Delhi: Maruti Suzuki will be announcing its March quarter results on Tuesday. The board of directors of India’s leading car manufacturing company might pay a final dividend for FY23 today. Industry experts noted that a fall in key raw material cost, price hikes and operating leverage would assist margin expansion for auto manufacturers including Maruti Suzuki earning season.

Improvement can be noticed in chip supply but the still OEMs face production constraints in some variants. Demand trends are still reflected in robust stockpiles and waiting for high-end variants; however, entry-level products are facing demand challenges in certain pockets, Sharekhan said in its quarterly preview.

This brokerage anticipates Maruti Suzuki outperforming Tata Motors’ PV division in terms of operating performance.

Emkay Global predicts Maruti Suzuki to report a 46 per cent year-on-year(YoY) rise in standalone net profit at Rs.2,684.90 crore for the March quarter compared with Rs.1, 838.90 crores in the last year’s quarter. Ebitda margin expands to 10.4 per cent from 9.8 per cent in December and 9.1 per cent in the last year’s quarter.

“Revenue may grow YoY due to higher volumes (up 5 per cent) and realization (up 16 per cent). Ebitda margin to expand YoY owing to the benign scale and price hike,” it said.

Kotak is to be expecting profits amounting to Rs.2,830.50 crore, up 53.90 per cent YoY. Sales are expected to rise 21.1 per cent to Rs.32,377 crore. As per Motilal Oswal Securities, Maruti Suzuki profits to grow 54.2 per cent YoY to Rs.2,836.50 crore.

Prabhudas Lilladher said it sees the trend of Superiority continuing in the PV segment, albeit at a slower rate, adding that extensive participation would lead it to grow faster than the industry and acquire benefits of operating leverage and superior mix.

“Easing of supply chain constraints, combined with traction for new model launches and healthy demand during festivals, aided volume growth,” said Motilal Oswal Securities. According to it, lower raw material costs and operating leverage may help the Ebitda margin expand 110 bps QoQ to 10.9 per cent.

Maruti Suzuki shares saw no major movement year-to-date against a 2.26 per cent rise in the BSE Auto index during the same year. The stock is up 7.35 per cent in the last year against BSE Auto’s 17 per cent rise.