After Hero Electric and Okinawa, electric two-wheeler maker Ampere emerged as the third largest player in the segment in terms of reported scale during FY22. The company managed around three-fold growth in its gross scale with improved economics in the same period.
Ampere offers Primus, Magnus EX, and Zeal EX e-scooters and it made a 98.8% collection from their sales with the rest of the income coming from the sale of spare parts and scrap.
Ampere’s gross collection spiked 2.96X to Rs 522.30 crore in FY22 from Rs 176.30 crore in FY21, according to its annual financial statement with the Registrar of Companies (RoC).
During 2021-2022, the firm claimed to have sold 79,000 units.
When it comes to cost, procurement formed around 74% of the total expense which surged 2.89X to Rs 416.27 crore in FY22. Expenditure on employee benefits rose 2X to Rs 27.26 crore whereas the warranty cost more than kept pace with sales, spiking 4.87X to Rs 20.03 crore.
Ampere’s advertising cost increased 1.5X to Rs 14.5 crore during FY22 while freight cum transportation expenses shot up 2.7X to Rs 18.39 crore in the last fiscal year. The firm’s total cost ballooned by 2.77X to Rs 562.10 crore in FY22 from Rs 202.60 crore in FY21.
At the end, Ampere’s losses grew 89% to Rs 45.36 crore during the last fiscal year from Rs 24 crore in FY21. Its ROCE and EBITDA margins improved to -22.01% and -4.41% i. On a unit level, the company spent 1.08 to earn a single unit of operating revenue.
Ampere competes with a clutch of electric scooter makers including major competitor Hero Electric which was the top revenue generator in FY22 with Rs 841 crore. Okinawa and Ather Energy recorded Rs 822 crore and Rs 408 crore topline during the same period. Ola electric is yet to disclose its FY22 numbers.
Okinawa remained the only profitable company among them with Rs 89.5 crore worth of profit. Hero Electric and Ather Energy recorded Rs 30 crore and Rs 344 crore losses respectively in FY22.
Fifteen years since it was founded as a startup in 2008, to the acquisition of a majority stake by Greaves Cotton in 2018, there is no doubt about the experience and pedigree at Ampere. In a market that has effectively taken off only since 2020, the firm is well placed to do well, and capitalise on its experience and distribution muscle. With increasing competition, the big challenge might be the investments marketing and branding will possibly demand, which could crimp its drive to profitability, if that’s a target at all at this stage.
