NEW DELHI: Asian Paints Ltd on Thursday reported an 18.5 per cent decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 1,031.29 crore for the third quarter ended December 2021 as inflationary trends in raw material prices continued to impact the company's gross margins across businesses.
The company had posted a net profit of Rs 1,265.35 crore during the October-December quarter of the previous fiscal, Asian Paints said in a regulatory filing. Its revenue from operations jumped 25.61 per cent to Rs 8,527.24 crore during the quarter under review. The same stood at Rs 6,788.47 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
Asian Paints Managing Director & CEO Amit Syngle said the steep and unprecedented inflationary trend in raw material prices continued to impact the gross margins across businesses this quarter.
"Substantial price increases have been taken in November and December to mitigate this inflation impact, improving the margins on a sequential basis".
The company's total expenses were at Rs 7,220.29 crore, up 38.46 per cent compared to the year-ago period. The same was at Rs 5,214.88 crore in the third quarter of the previous fiscal. Its revenue from the paints segment climbed 25.39 per cent to Rs 8,319.42 crore while revenue from home improvement segment grew 36.42 per cent to Rs 209.26 crore.
"The home improvement business continued its streak of healthy growth and registered another solid performance, with a steady expansion trajectory across the country," Syngle said.
The domestic decorative business registered yet another strong double-digit growth performance, five quarters in a row, with an 18 per cent volume growth, on a strong base of the previous year. The industrial coatings business also registered a robust double-digit revenue growth especially in the protective coatings segment, Syngle said.
"However, the automotive coatings business was impacted by the challenges facing the automotive sector," he added.
Syngle noted that international business registered a 9 per cent value growth and was impacted by sluggish market conditions in most of the units in the Middle East and specific challenges like civil unrest in Ethiopia and forex crisis in Sri Lanka.
"We continue to work strongly in enhancing the value proposition for our customers across all business segments and thereby deliver sustained value creation for all our stakeholders," he said. Shares of Asian Paints Ltd were on Thursday trading marginally higher at Rs 3,300.55 in late afternoon trade on the BSE.