India's Maruti Suzuki beats Q1 profit estimates on higher SUV sales

BENGALURU (Reuters) - Maruti Suzuki, India's top carmaker by sales, posted first-quarter profit above market expectations on Wednesday, helped by increasing demand for its sport utility vehicles (SUV), which sent its shares up 3.9%.

The 'Brezza' SUV manufacturer's standalone profit for the April-June quarter grew 47% to 36.5 billion rupees ($436 million), topping analysts' estimates of 33.20 billion rupees, per LSEG data.

Maruti is one of the first carmakers in India to report results in a quarter where car sales have hit a two-year low as India's general elections and extreme heat hurt demand. The company's sales also grew at their slowest pace in nine quarters.

Still, Maruti reported a 29% rise in SUV sales, enough to boost revenue by 9.8% to 338.75 billion rupees.

The share of SUV sales in Maruti's overall sales grew to 31% from 25% a year ago, making it the company's second-biggest segment after compact cars.

Rival Mahindra & Mahindra, which also makes SUVs, posted a bigger adjusted profit earlier in the day.

($1 = 83.7234 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Varun Hebbalalu and Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)