Weak European demand dents CIE Automotive India's Q3 profit

BENGALURU, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Auto components maker CIE Automotive India (CIEA.NS) on Tuesday reported a 11.4% rise in third-quarter profit - its slowest growth in four quarters - hurt by a sharp slide in its European segment revenue.

The unit of Spains CIE Automotive (CIEA.MC) reported a consolidated profit from continuing operations of 1.87 billion rupees ($22.46 million) for the three months to Sept. 30, compared with 1.68 billion rupees a year earlier.

Weak demand for cars in CIEs key Europe market, which analysts say brings higher margins, also saw overall revenue rise just 2.2% – its slowest growth in five quarters.

Revenue from the European segment – which fell for a second-straight quarter – declined around 38%. Revenue from CIEs domestic business dropped 0.4%.

The company, which makes gear boxes and engine parts among other things and counts Maruti Suzuki (MRTI.NS) and Hero MotoCorp (HROM.NS) among its customers also named Shriprakash Shukla as its chairman.

Shares of the company ended 3.7% lower ahead of the results. CIE shares are up 43.5% so far this year, outperforming the Nifty Auto indexs (.NIFTYAUTO) 31% rise.

($1 = 83.2427 Indian rupees)