Asian Paints on January 19 reported a 6.37 percent growth in consolidated net profit for the quarter ending December 2022 at Rs 1,097.06 crore. The company had reported a profit of Rs 1,031.29 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal year.
Consolidated revenue from operations came in at Rs 8,636.74 crore, up 1.28 percent from Rs 8,527.24 crore in the year-ago quarter.
The numbers were worse than estimates. Net profit was expected to grow 8.7 percent to Rs 1,104 crore from a year earlier and sequentially by 40 percent, according to the average of estimates of brokerages polled by Moneycontrol. Revenue was expected to rise 10.9 percent YoY to Rs 9,456 crore.
“The domestic Decorative Business registered a flat volume and value sales delivery for the quarter, on a very high price increase base in the previous year,” said Amit Syngle, Managing Director & CEO of Asian Paints. “The extended monsoon in October also affected retailing in the peak festival season; but demand picked up in November and December leading to a double-digit growth for the Decorative Business in December.”
The company said its industrial business did well led by strong growth in the Auto OE and general industrial segments. Meanwhile, the international business was a mixed bag with good growth in the Middle East and Africa while the South Asia market, especially Sri Lanka and Bangladesh,
got severely impacted by the adverse forex and macro-economic conditions.
International business’ sales increased by 2.1 percent in to Rs 778.82 crores from Rs 762.43 crore. In constant currency terms, sales increased by 13.4 percent.
The Home Décor market continued its expansion foray but witnessed some slowdown in the Bath and the Kitchen business this quarter, Asian Paints said in a press statement.
Bath Fittings business’ sales decreased by 10.9 percent year on year (YoY) to Rs 89.84 crore while sales for kitchen business decreased by 7.1 percent YoY in to Rs 100.68 crores
The firm said its Profit before depreciation, interest, tax and other income (PBDIT) margin was at 18.7 percent for the quarter.
“The operating margins improved strongly on sequential basis as well as saw an improvement on a y-o-y basis driven by deflation in some of the raw material prices as well as continued work on driving operational efficiencies across businesses,” said Syngle.
