Asian Paints on Wednesday released its fiscal first quarter earnings with a profit drop of 24.6 per cent on-year during the first quarter of FY25. The profit was recorded at Rs 1,186.79 crore as compared to Rs 1,574.84 crore reported during the corresponding quarter of FY24. It posted revenue from operations at Rs 8,969.73 crore, down 2.3 per cent as against Rs 9,182.31 crore during the same period last year. The company EBITDA stood at Rs 1,693.7 crore
Amit Syngle, Managing Director & CEO of Asian Paints Limited, said, “Demand conditions for the paint industry were tough, impacted by the severe heatwave and general elections in the quarter.”
Asian Paints’ Q1 performance across segments
Asian Paints’ international business recorded a sales drop of 2.3 per cent to Rs 679.1 crore as against Rs 695.1 crore on the back of economic uncertainty, forex crisis and liquidity issues in key markets of Asia and Egypt. In constant currency terms, sales increased by 1.8 per cent
In the home decor business, bath fittings business recorded sales increase by 10.3 per cent to Rs 93.4 crore from Rs 84.7 crore. PBDIT loss was at Rs1.4 crore. The kitchen business posted sales at Rs 100.4 crore, up 4.6 per cent on-year. PBDIT was Rs 0.9 crore as against profit of Rs 0.7 crore in the corresponding period of previous year. The sales at White Teak increased by 14.3 per cent on-year to Rs 29.7 crore. Sales at Weatherseal increased by 17.6 per cent to Rs 11.5 crore from Rs 9.8 crore. Both these recent acquisitions are gaining from synergies with the Asian Paints network, the company said.
Meanwhile, Asian Paints’ industrial business recorded flat sales of Rs 293.2 crore for APPPG and PPGAP sales increased by 9.6 per cent on-year to Rs 517.1 crore
Amit Syngle said, “We delivered a good volume growth of 7 per cent in the decorative segment aided by some movement in rural markets, however value declined by 3 per cent impacted by the price decrease taken earlier in the year and shift in product mix. Unanticipated material price inflation coupled with supply chain challenges impacted profitability of the Decorative business for the quarter. The Industrial business did relatively better and grew by 5.8 per cent by value backed by good growth in Auto OEM and powder coatings segment. Economy segment saw a good offtake aided by the launch of our revolutionary latex paint NeoBharat, which is part of our focused approach to make further inroads in the ‘bottom of the pyramid’ segment. On the International front, geographies like Ethiopia and Sri Lanka grew well in Q1 on the back of gradual recovery in these economies, however key macroeconomic issues persisted in markets like Nepal, Bangladesh and Egypt impacting the overall performance for the International business. We saw a progressive quarter in Home Décor, with growth in all the categories and a strong growth in our Beautiful Home Stores.”
In the near term, Amit Syngle said that the demand conditions are expected to improve on the back of improving rural sentiment and monsoons picking up gradually.