Riding on strong sales, Hero Honda on Wednesday reported a 95% jump in second quarter net earnings at Rs 597 crore against Rs 306 crore in the same period last year.

The company, that sold 11.83 lakh units in the July-September’09 period against 9.7 lakh units in the corresponding quarter last year, said net sales revenue in the period stood at Rs 4040 crore (Rs 3190 crore), a growth of 27%. “It is our sustained focus on innovation and operational efficiency across functions that has helped drive the sequential growth in our business,” company MD and CEO Pawan Munjal said.

The company improved its earnings margin before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to 18.3% in the second quarter from 13.5% a year earlier. Anil Dua, Marketing head for Hero Honda, said strong demand in the festive season helped the company realise higher sales volumes. The company sold 4 lakh two-wheelers each in August and September, he said, adding that demand growth remained particularly high in the 150cc-plus bike segment as well as scooters.

Giving an outlook for the second half of the fiscal, he said Hero Honda expected the “strong sentiments” for its products to continue. “The underlying sentiments continue to remain strong,” Dua said.

Ravi Sud, CFO of the company, said higher sales and more demand for high-margin bikes had boosted the company’s profit margins. “Apart from the favourable product mix, cost-cutting initiatives have also helped the company maintain good margins,” Sud said.