India’s largest motorcycle manufacturer Hero MotoCorp has revealed a 20.4 per cent plunge in net profit to £57m for the third quarter of its current financial year to 31 December 2012, as the company struggles to protect a dominant market share from the rising fortunes of former joint-venture partner Honda.
Although Hero increased its revenue by 2.8 per cent to £723m during the three months, its bike sales volume was down by one per cent to 1.57 million units and overall costs rose by 5.6 per cent. Hero’s domestic sales have now fallen by two per cent in the first nine months of the fiscal year, against a 4.1 per cent improvement in overall industry sales, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. In contrast, stalking horse Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India has stacked on 37.4 percent over the same period.