Pallid past, better future for paint firms; price hikes to support earnings

Analysts foresee some cost saving measures to provide additional support to the paint companies' Ebitda margin

Consumer stocks, including paints, gained in Tuesday’s trade on account of India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) forecast of a normal monsoon.

Stocks of the three major paint firms, Asian Paints, Berger Paints India and Kansai Nerolac Paints, were up 0.7-4 per cent on Tuesday.

Expectations of an uptick in demand owing to a revival in rural economy and a recovery from the aftermath demonetisation and the goods and services tax triggered the upmove. Demand in the March 2018 quarter (Q4) is projected to be muted because of seasonality factors. Besides the revival in rural economy, growth anticipated for the automobile and