Kansai Nerolac Paints Q1 net rises over two-folds to Rs 111.38 crore

Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd on Friday reported an over three-fold increase in its consolidated net profit to Rs 111.38 crore for the first quarter ended June 2021.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 29.64 crore in the April-June quarter a year ago, Kansai Nerolac said in a BSE filing.

Its total revenue from operations rose over two times to Rs 1,397.20 crore during the quarter under review as against Rs 631.37 crore in the corresponding three months of the previous year.

Commenting on the results, Kansai Nerolac Paints Vice Chairman and Managing Director H M Bharuka said: "The quarter began on an extremely positive note. With the announcement of the lockdown across several states towards the end of April, demand was once again affected across both Decorative and Industrial in April and May. In June there was a revival in Decorative demand once the restrictions eased. Industrial demand continued to be impacted."

Kansai Nerolac's total expenses were at Rs 1,260.62 crore, up 108.18 per cent in Q1/FY 2021-22 as against Rs 605.53 crore.

According to the company, continuing the trend of earlier quarters, raw material prices further hardened resulting in extremely high inflation coupled with tightness in supplies.

"Forex markets continued to be volatile. The company has partly increased prices in Decorative. In Industrial, also the company has increased prices and is making sustained effort to obtain price increases to offset the impact of inflation," said Kansai Nerolac.

The company focused on selling a better product mix and continued with the aggressive cost control programme and judicious management of overheads.

"It is because of these steps that the drop in EBITDA has been contained," it said.

Over the outlook, Bharuka said: Looking forward, with the vaccination programme underway and a forecast of a good monsoon, demand should recover. Company would be aggressive in seeking price increases."

Shares of Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd on Friday settled at Rs 626.10 on the BSE, up 1.11 per cent from previous close.