Paints major Asian Paints has reported a 40% jump in consolidated net income at Rs 1,539 crore for the June quarter, helped by calibrated price hikes to the tune of 12% and cost discipline amid rising input price inflation due to the ongoing Iran war.
The fatty bottom line is despite the company seeing raw material costs rising 36% to Rs 5,449.3 crore in the reporting quarter as crude remained volatile, but employee cost grew only 12% and other expenses at 10%, helping the bottom line expansion, the city-based company said in a statement Wednesday.
Consolidated revenue from operations rose 18% to Rs 10,542 crore compared, while on a standalone basis, the same rose 17% to Rs 9,183.4 crore, and the standalone net profit jumped 34% to Rs 1,478.4 crore in the quarter.
The street was expecting 14-17% double-digit revenue growth and flat-to-negative margin on crude-oil-linked raw material inflation. But price hikes and cost discipline helped it to beat margin estimates.
"We started FY27 on a good note, building on the momentum of the previous quarter and delivering a strong performance across our businesses. Decorative business grew at a healthy volume growth of 9%, supported by calibrated price hikes, translating into a robust value growth of 16.6%. Industrial coatings sustained its mid-teen growth trajectory, growing by over 16% in value," said Amit Syngle, managing director.
He said the company has on average raised product prices by about 12% to offset surging raw material costs.
Net sales from international business increased 27.2% to Rs 936.5 crore from Rs 736.1 crore led by units in Egypt, the UAE, Oman, Nepal and Bangladesh, the company said.
Under the home decor business, sales of bath fittings and white teak declined 4.3% and 7.4% respectively, but the kitchen business sales rose 10.1% to Rs 108.0 crore and weather seal sales rose 11.2% to Rs 16.9 crore.
Industrial coatings sustained mid-teen growth momentum complementing the performance of the decorative segment and driving broad-based growth across the coatings portfolio.