Somany Ceramics shares gained 2 percent higher on August 23 as the company entered into a joint venture to operate Cerapro Nepal and acquire a 30 percent stake in it.
The joint venture will be for the purpose of establishing a tile manufacturing facility in Nepal for the making of wall and floor tiles and allied products in Nepal, and sale thereof, the company said in an exchange filing.
However, the stock shed most of its early gains and came off its initial high. At 9:30am, shares of the company were trading 0.2 percent higher at Rs 689.7 on the BSE.
Upon meeting the conditions stated in the agreement, Somany Ceramics plans to subscribe to 3 million equity shares, each with a face value of NPR 100, totaling NPR 300 million, which is 30 percent of Cerapro Nepal's issued share capital.
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The ownership distribution between other shareholders and Somany Ceramics will be 70:30. Additionally, the company can potentially raise its ownership in Cerapro Nepal to 50 percent.
Somany Ceramics posted a consolidated revenue growth of 5 percent YoY in Q1 FY24 to around Rs 586.53 crore, driven by tile volume growth of 8.1 percent YoY while tile realisation declined 2 percent YoY.
Operating margin expanded 59bps YoY to 8.6 percent primarily due to lower raw material expenses partly negated by 23bps and 15bps YoY increase in employee and other expenses, respectively. Meanwhile, net profit slumped 29 percent on year to Rs 14.57 crore in June 2023.
The management initially noted a decrease in demand during the first quarter of FY24. However, there has been a significant improvement in July 2023. It expects demand tailwinds to continue and is expecting a double-digit volume growth in FY24, supported by EBITDA margins of 9.5-10 percent due to lower gas prices and increased operating efficiency.
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