Asian Paints on Thursday reported a 5.6 per cent year-on-year (YoY) consolidated net profit after minority at Rs 1,072.67 crore compared with Rs 1,015.69 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.
The paints maker said its consolidated sales for the quarter rose 1.7 per cent to Rs 8,607.50 crore compared with Rs 8,462.15 crore in the same quarter last year.
In a filing to BSE, the company said its 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.
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, Asian Paints said.
The industrial business did well, thanks to strong growth in the Auto OE and Genera Industrial segments, Asian Paints said. 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 & macro-economic conditions. The Home Décor market continued its expansion foray but witnessed some slowdown in the Bath and the Kitchen business this quarter, it said.
“We continue to work diligently on multiple strategic initiatives to further strengthen our business model and deliver sustained value to all our stakeholders” said Managing Director & CEO Amit Syngle.
In the international business, sales jumped 2.1 per cent to Rs 778.82 crore from Rs 762.43 crore. In constant currency terms, sales increased 13.4 per cent. In the home décor business, sales for bath fittings decreased 10.9 per cent to Rs 89.84 crores from Rs 100.84 crore YoY. In the kitchen business, sales fell 7.1 per cent to Rs 100.68 crore from Rs 108.41 crore YoY. In the industrial business: APPPG sales rose 23.9 per cent to Rs 261.63 crore from Rs 211.17 crore.
“Overall, on a 9-month basis, the decorative business continues to grow at healthy double-digit volume and value growths with strong CAGRs. 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,” the company said.
Asian Paints has reported numbers below estimates on all fronts. Volumes were flat YoY which was impacted by high base & extended monsoons in Oct which affected the festive demand. Margin recovery is a positive which we believe can continue into 4Q as well, said Amnish Aggarwal – Head of Research, Prabhudas Lilladher.
Asian Paints might settle for margins lower than historical given the expected entry of Grasim in Paints. We remain positive on the stock. However, a re-rating looks unlikely given premium valuations and likely disruption due to the entry of a large player, he said. with an ‘accumulate’ rating and a target price of Rs 3,326.
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