Asian Paints Ltd on Thursday reported a 29 percent decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 605.17 crore in the second quarter ended September 30, on account of higher expenses, especially input costs.
The company had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 851.9 crore in the corresponding period of last fiscal, Asian Paints Ltd said in a regulatory filing. Its consolidated revenue from operations in the second quarter stood at Rs 7,096.01 crore, against Rs 5,350.23 crore a year ago.
The company said its total expenses in the second quarter stood at Rs 6,418.17 crore as compared with Rs 4,299.12 crore in the same period last fiscal. Of this, the cost of materials consumed was at Rs 4,570.53 crore as compared to Rs 2,646.49 crore in the year-ago quarter, the company said.
Asian Paints Ltd Managing Director and CEO Amit Syngle said, ''Steep inflation seen in raw material prices, since the beginning of this calendar year, has been phenomenal and has impacted gross margins across all businesses in the quarter.'' The company has taken a series of price increases and would look at a further price increase to mitigate the impact of this persistently high inflation, he said adding that the company is confident that it should be able to turn this around strongly in the coming quarter.
Syngle said the domestic decorative business continued to ''move ahead on its high growth trajectory with an unprecedented 34 percent volume growth in the quarter and a strong compounded growth rate over the last two years''.
The industrial coatings business also registered strong double-digit revenue growth, led by robust demand for protective coatings and an uptick in the automotive sector. The home improvement business continued to scale up in a significant manner, registering its highest quarterly revenues, aided by strong alignment with the project's business, he added.
''Performance in the international business was a mixed bag with good growth in the South Asian markets, while markets in the Middle East and Africa were sluggish with challenges around COVID-19 and forex (foreign exchange) availability,'' Syngle said.
(With inputs from PTI)
