FE Editorial : Not yet bottomed out
The Financial Express: Jan 26 2013, 01:11 IST
Earnings season may have gotten off to a good start with heavyweights like TCS, ITC and RIL all turning in strong numbers, but some of that sheen is wearing off. The latest set of numbers shows many Indian companies aren’t really coping too well with the slowdown. For a clutch of 224 companies (excluding banks and financials), the top line has grown at 14.5% yoy, the slowest pace in several quarters, indicating that demand isn’t really robust and that not all companies possess pricing power. Discretionary spends by consumers are coming off. At Hindustan Unilever, for instance, the top line grew 15% yoy but only a small part of this was driven by volumes, which increased 5% yoy. For the economy, though, what’s more worrying is that businesses like commercial vehicles and cement remain in a trough; net sales at Ashok Leyland fell 18% yoy as both volumes and realisations were hit, while sales volumes at UltraTech Cement were flat.
Moreover, the capital goods space isn’t seeing a meaningful recovery yet—Larsen & Toubro’s 10% yoy rise in revenues suggests it may be losing momentum because the increase in the first half of the year had been a far more sprightly 21% yoy. Smaller firms, too, are struggling—consolidated revenues at Rallis, for instance, were up just 5% yoy with the chemicals business faring poorly. What helped companies, this time around, was some softening in commodity prices—as a share of sales, the cost of raw materials for the sample has risen just 92
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