Amara Raja Batteries Jan-March net rises 72 pct

MUMBAI, June 25 (Reuters) - Amara Raja Batteries Ltd (AMAR.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) posted a 72 percent rise in Jan-March profit helped by a surge in lead prices and rising demand from industrial and automotive segments.

The auto and industrial battery maker posted a fourth quarter profit of 261.8 million rupees versus 152.3 million rupees last year. Net sales were about 3 billion rupees as against 1.9 billion rupees a year ago.

The firm's annual profit doubled to 943.6 million rupees versus 470.4 million rupees last year. Net sales rose 82 percent to 10.8 billion rupees.

The surge in lead prices accounted for 50 percent of the year's revenue growth, Amara Raja said in a statement.

"They are looking at average lead prices for the year. For FY07 lead prices were about $1,700 to $1,800 per tonne. For FY08 lead prices would have been between $2,800 to $3,000 a tonne," said an analyst who declined to be named.

"Its all cost-based pricing. So as costs go up, the topline also moves up in proportion," the analyst said.

Amara Raja said economic trends like rising inflation, high crude oil and volatile commodity prices may impact its growth in FY09, but the firm would "continue to grow faster than industry growth".

Capacity expansion and new product offerings would be the growth drivers for the year, it said.

The company expects to expand capacity at its automotive four wheeler batteries segment to 5.4 million units in the second quarter of FY09, from 4.9 million units per annum at present.