Grasim Q4 PAT seen up 27% at Rs 639 cr

Grasim Industries is set to report fourth quarter consolidated profit after tax of Rs 639 crore, up 27% as compared to Rs 502 crore in previous quarter.

Net sales are seen going up by 9% at Rs 5,848 crore from Rs 5,385 crore on quarter-on-quarter basis.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisaion (EBITDA) is likely to go up by 24% at Rs 1480 crore from Rs 1,197 crore and EBITDA is also seen improving at 25% as against 22%.
On year-on-year basis, net sales are seen going up by 9% and EBITDA up 3%. However, PAT is expected to go down by 2%. Factors at play:
-Margin expansion in its VSF segment and improved performance of UltraTech.
-Cement earnings to benefit from improved realizations
-Contribution from VSF business to be aided by better realization and volume growth
-Further boasted by continued strong VSF realizations
-Robust VSF realizations likely to enable the company to pass on higher wood pulp costs to customers
-Company hiked VSF prices 3 times in Q4; hence better realizations.
-Expansion of VSF and cement capacity additions