Kajaria Ceramics reported 25 percent decline in third-quarter profit on February 4 as its margins came under pressure due to soft demand for its tiles in a seasonally weak quarter. The company's consolidated net profit dropped to Rs 78 crore in the quarter.
Its revenue from operations rose 1 percent to Rs 1,164 crore, with the company flagging lower realisations and persistently weak exports.
The main reason though was a subdued 7 percent volume growth in a quarter which is seasonally slow for building activities as labor travel home for the many festivals in the period.
Also read: Our LIVE blog on Q3 results
Kajaria Ceramics' core profit margins narrowed to 12.8 percent from 15.5 percent a year ago. The company, however, remains optimistic about demand in the near to medium term, Chairman Ashok Kajaria said in a statement.
"Despite sustained softness in domestic demand and continued weakness in tile exports, our tile volumes in Q3FY25 grew by 7 percent YoY to 28.90 MSM. Our EBITDA margins remained soft at 12.78 percent for the quarterdue to lower realisations and loss in bathware division which was largely attributable to new sanitaryware unit commenced in Morbi during the year. We however remain optimistic on the demand outlook for the tile industry in the near to medium term," said Kajaria.
On February 4, the shares of the company closed 2.3 percent lower at Rs 960 apiece.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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