Bharat Forge down 2% as North America Class 8 truck orders decline

Shares of Bharat Forge edged lower in early trade on April 5 on the back of a decline in Class-8 truck orders in North America for March.

Orders for Class-8 trucks have seen a consistent decline in recent months, barring February, which resulted in a year-on-year as well as sequential fall in March.

For the month, orders for Class-8 trucks was at 19,000 units, down 10 percent from the corresponding quarter in the year ago period. The orders were also 17 percent lower than the 21,251 units ordered in the previous month.

Since Bharat Forge is a leading forging player in the Class-8 truck segment, the decline in sales of the latter adversely impact the company’s financials.

At 9.57am, shares of Bharat Forge were trading at a cut of 1.64 percent at Rs 758.55 on the National Stock Exchange. The stock also slipped to an intraday low of Rs 751.55.

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Shares of the company have also shed around 14 percent in the year so far on the back of concerns around its rising debt and worsening losses at its overseas subsidiaries.

The forging company also reported a 14.29 percent on-year fall in its net profit to Rs 289.18 crore for the December quarter, despite clocking in record revenues of Rs 1,952 crore, thanks to the highest ever growth of 9.4 percent in export revenues.