MRF, often regarded as India's priciest stock, garnered attention with its declaration of a final dividend of Rs 194 per share for the financial year ending March 31, 2024. This move deviates from its recent trend of offering more modest dividends of Rs 3 per share over the past two financial periods.
According to the company's Board of Directors, shareholders are set to receive a final dividend of Rs 194 per share of Rs 10 each. Combined with two interim dividends of Rs 3 per share already disbursed during the fiscal year, the total dividend for FY24 sums up to Rs 200 per share.
Despite this generous dividend payout, MRF's financial performance for the year also displayed positive growth. The company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 396 crore, indicating a 16% increase compared to the previous year's figure of Rs 341 crore.
However, on a sequential basis, the consolidated profit after tax (PAT) witnessed a 22% decline, standing at Rs 396 crore compared to Rs 510 crore reported in the October-December quarter.
In terms of revenue from operations, MRF witnessed a notable increase for the reported quarter, reaching Rs 6,349 crore compared to Rs 5,842 crore in the same period last year—an uptick of 9% year-on-year.
Concurrently, the company's expenses also surged by 9% year-on-year, amounting to Rs 5,916 crore in the specified quarter versus Rs 5,410 crore in Q4FY23.
The net profit margin for the reported quarter stood at 6.15%, indicating a decrease from the previous quarter's figure of 8.17% but an improvement from the same period last year, which stood at 5.76%.
On a standalone basis, MRF reported a profit of Rs 379.55 crore for the January-March quarter, marking an 8% decline from the Rs 410.66 crore reported in Q4FY23. The quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) comparison reveals a more substantial drop of over 25%.
Similarly, standalone revenue for the quarter stood at Rs 6,215 crore, reflecting an increase of 8.50% compared to the year-ago period's revenue of Rs 5,725 crore. However, this figure represents a decrease from the previous quarter's revenue of Rs 6,048 crore.
Shares of MRF closed at Rs 1,28,400, registering a decline of 4.08% on Friday.
