Ather reports first profit, approves Rs 122 cr expansion

Bengaluru: Ather Energy reported its first profit as higher sales, price increases and a shift towards more profitable scooter variants helped it absorb rising raw material costs. The Bengaluru-based company also approved a Rs 122 crore investment to expand production as demand outstrips supply.The electric scooter maker posted a profit of Rs 1.2 crore for the September quarter, compared with a loss of Rs 154 crore a year earlier and Rs 51 crore in the preceding quarter. Total income rose 62% year-on-year to Rs 1,527 crore, while vehicle sales increased 42% to 93,211 units.“We’re not out of the woods,” co-founder and CEO Tarun Mehta told analysts. He said the focus remained on increasing sales and production, cautioning that quarterly profits could fluctuate.Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) stood at Rs 74.2 crore, compared with a loss of Rs 90.8 crore a year earlier. The company’s earnings included Rs 62.7 crore in other income.Price increases and changes in the mix of variants sold helped offset higher costs of aluminium, copper, battery materials and plastics. However, Mehta said some margin gains from prioritising certain variants and reducing incentives were more temporary.“On the current portfolio, I would not want to push pricing up, at least over the next few quarters,” he said.The company said pre-orders more than doubled to about 1.8 lakh during the quarter. Mehta estimated that its existing stores could sell roughly 20,000 additional scooters a month if supplies were available. Its Hosur factory operated at 98% capacity utilisation during peak production.The expansion will increase Hosur’s annual vehicle capacity from 4.2 lakh to 4.95 lakh units by December. Ather’s new factory at Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in Maharashtra is scheduled to begin commercial production in phases from December, initially with an annual capacity of five lakh units.The additional investment will raise the new factory’s planned capacity to 6.5 lakh units by the September quarter of 2027, taking combined annual capacity to about 11.4 lakh units. Mehta said installed capacity would take additional time to ramp up fully.Supply constraints have also shaped the rollout of Ather’s new Konarc scooter. The company prioritised mid-range versions over the entry-level variant to protect margins while production remained constrained. The cheaper version will follow as additional capacity becomes available.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.