Ashok Leyland posted a lower-than-expected 37.5 per cent rise in second-quarter profit on Tuesday due to higher raw material costs.Profit was Rs 460 crore ($63.32 million) in the quarter ended September 30, compared with Rs 334 crore a year earlier, the company said.Analysts had on an average expected a profit of Rs 513 crore, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.Revenue from operations grew 25.2 per cent to Rs 7,608 crore.
However, cost of materials jumped 52.5 per cent, pushing total expenses 23.2 per cent higher to Rs 6,960 crore.Ashok Leyland chief executive officer Vinod K Dasari resigned after nearly 14 years with the company, the truck maker said in a separate statementDheeraj Hinduja will step in as executive chairman with immediate effect.Shares in Ashok Leyland closed0.4 per cent higher at Rs118.75 apiece on the NSE,whose benchmark index Nifty settled nearly 1 per cent higher at 10,582, ahead of the earnings announcement by the auto maker.($1 = Rs 72.6425)