Berger Paints India has reported a decline of 7.61 per cent in its net profit during the quarter ended September 30, 2024. Its profit after tax stood at Rs 269.90 crore in Q2 FY25 as against Rs 292.13 crore it recorded in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
The company’s net consolidated total income stood at Rs 2,795.71 crore in Q2 FY25, a growth of 0.47 per cent from Rs 2,782.58 crore it recorded in the similar quarter last year.
“The extended monsoons, adverse weather and flooding in some key markets made this a tough quarter although we saw strong traction towards the quarter end. This resulted in an almost flat quarterly revenue performance and moderate single digit growth on volume terms.
On the profitability front this quarter saw one of the highest levels of gross margins in the last ten quarters and our operating margin remained within guidance levels in spite of the continued investments that the Company made in branding, advertisement and manpower to strengthen our market presence.Though the quarter numbers were muted, we expect that the second half of the year will be better in terms of revenue and profitability.
We continued to do well in the focus segments of the company, especially waterproofing, construction chemicals, wood coatings and the premium plus coating segments. Operating profit for the quarter, while healthy, had a negative growth rate. Three factors contributed to this, (A)Scale effect, (B)Our investment in a new manpower, (C) Increased investment in advertising and brand building activities for our differentiated products.
On the international front, our Polish operations continued to do well. However, there was a one-time set of in projects which has impacted profitability this quarter. Nepal continued to be challenging, but in October 24, Nepal registered a double-digit revenue growth after almost a year, and we expect a turnaround in their figures going forward. We remain optimistic for H2 on the back of the reversal of the price decrease impact and the improving market demand,” said Abhijit Roy, managing director & CEO of the company.
