Bangalore: Hero MotoCorp today further strengthened its future-readiness with the elevation of Mr. Pawan Munjal, currently Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, to the newly-created position of Vice Chairman of the company.

With the Board of Directors of Hero MotoCorp giving its approval at its meeting here today, Mr. Munjal will now hold the position of Vice-Chairman and Managing Director.

Hero has remained the world’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer in terms of unit volumes sold in a calendar year by a single company since 2001 – the year Mr. Munjal took over as the MD & CEO.

Riding on its highest-ever quarterly sales of 17,15,254 units of two-wheeler in the first quarter  (April-June) of this financial year (2014-15), Hero MotoCorp’s total turnover (Net Sales & other Operating Income) in the quarter stood at Rs 7036.84 crore – a robust growth of  per cent over the corresponding quarter in the previous fiscal (2013-14) when it was Rs. 6159.52 crore. EBIDTA margin for the quarter stood at 13.46 per cent.

In a clear testimony to the prudent financial management befitting the market leader, HMCL today reported Profit-After -Tax (PAT) of Rs 562.76 crore, compared to the PAT of Rs 548.58 crore in the corresponding quarter (April-June 2013) and Rs 554.43 crore in the previous quarter (January-March 2014).

Company has announced interim dividend of Rs. 30 per share i.e. 1500 percent entailing total outgo of Rs. 700.87 crores inclusive of dividend distribution tax.

Dr. Brijmohan Lall, Chairman, Hero MotoCorp, said “The Board is delighted to elevate Pawan to the position of Vice Chairman. This is an acknowledgement of his inspiring leadership and progressive vision which has helped Hero MotoCorp strengthen its No. 1 position in a highly competitive and volatile market. Undoubtedly, there are challenging times ahead and yet, under the leadership of Pawan, the future looks promising as well as exciting. It is, therefore, the right time to strengthen the hands of Pawan as he leads Hero MotoCorp to a new era of innovation and technological excellence.”

Mr. Pawan Munjal said “I am grateful to the members of the Board and all stake holders of the company in reposing their faith and confidence in me with a larger responsibility. I take this as an acknowledgement of all the good work that we have done as a team in building on our leadership over the past several years. As we embrace new technologies and expand our global footprint across continents, the journey ahead is going to be far more exciting.

“As usual, it was yet another action-packed quarter for us. With the formation of a joint venture in Bangladesh, we have commenced activities for setting up of manufacturing plant there. We also commenced operations in our new manufacturing facility at Neemrana in Rajasthan. We have continued to sustain our robust volume growth despite the overall sluggish industry scenario. Despite the sub-normal monsoon in some parts of the country impacting sentiments, we are confident of consolidating our market leadership by clocking growth in the double digit in the rest of the fiscal.”