Maruti Suzuki India Limited, India's number one carmaker, today reported a net profit of Rs243.1 crore for the fourth quarter of the financial year 2008-09 (January-March 2009) against Rs297.7 crore during the same quarter of the previous year – an 18.34 per cent fall year-over-year .

Total income (net of excise or income from operations plus other income) during the quarter stood at Rs6,538.3 crore - a growth of 30.26 per cent compared to January-March 2008.

While there was a 17 per cent growth in unit sales during the quarter, the adverse foreign exchange movements during the year, impacted the bottomline in Q4 as well, the company said in a release.

For the financial year as a whole (April 2008-March 2009), Maruti Suzuki reported a net profit of Rs1,218.7 - a 29.6 per cent fall year-over-year from 2007-08. The company's EBDITA for the year stood at Rs2,433.4 crore, a fall of about 22 per cent over the previous year.

Total income (net of excise or income from operations plus other income) for the financial year, however, climbed 14.28 per cent to Rs21,453.8 crore - the highest ever for the company. The company attributed higher total income on higher realisations, largely contributed by the company's popular hatch-back Swift and premium sedan Swift Dzire (diesel and petrol variants).

During the year, raw material prices went up sharply and remained high for most part of the year. Forex fluctuations were also adverse and impacted the bottomline significantly, the company said.

With regard to foreign currency exposure, the company expects its exports in 2009-10 to be higher and cover its imports.

The board of directors have recommended a dividend of 70 per cent for 2008-09 (100 per cent in the previous fiscal).

In fiscal 2008-09, Maruti Suzuki sold a total of 792,167 vehicles - the highest ever by the company in its 25 year history. The previous highest annual sales were 764,842 units in 2007-08.

Cumulative domestic sales of Maruti Suzuki Swift crossed the 3-lakh mark since its launch, making it the quickest vehicle model to do so. Maruti Suzuki's Alto continued to be the preferred vehicle for the middle class crossing the 1 million-mark in cumulative sales in domestic market, the company said.

The company's sales included exports of 70,023 units in 2008-09, up 32.1 per cent over sales of 53,024 recorded in 2007-08. The 2008-09 export numbers, the highest ever by the company, was led by A-star, the fuel efficient compact car launched in Europe during the year as Suzuki Alto. The export tally includes around 19,000 units of A-star exported to Europe including United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark and Switzerland.

Fiscal 2008-09 marked Maruti Suzuki's Silver Jubilee year in India. Over the 25 years, the company has sold over 7 million (70 lakh) cars in the domestic market. Additionally, over half a million cars made by Maruti Suzuki have been exported world-over.

The company said it continued to focus on long term initiatives, despite the challenging market situation. These include strengthening manpower – the company is increasing the number of engineers from 460 in March 2008 to 730 in by March 2010.

Besides launching new models like the A-star, the company is upgrading engine technology to BS-IV stage across all its models.

Export of A star (as Suzuki Alto) to Europe has commenced as per schedule. The company has set up dedicated export port facilities for cars at Mundra.

Besides, it is increasing sales outlets from 600 in 393 cities to 681 in 454 cities and from 2,628 service outlets in 1,220 cities last year to 2,767 in 1314 cities. TrueValue outlets will go up from 265 in 166 cities last year to 315 outlets in 181 cities.