Kajaria Ceramics has reported a dip of 40.94% in its net consolidated profit during the quarter ended December 31, 2022. Its profit after tax (PAT) stood at Rs 73.66 crore in Q3 FY23 as against Rs 124.73 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year, the company said in a BSE filing.
The company’s total consolidated income stood at Rs 1,098.61 crore in Q3 FY23, a growth of 2.13 per cent from Rs 1,075.65 crore it recorded in the similar quarter last year.
“This quarter has been challenging in terms of performance. The overall volumes were impacted by the prolonged monsoon season and the festive period in the month of October 2022. However, there has been some recovery in demand during November and December, indicating a positive trend going forward. The EBITDA margin for Q3FY23 was 12.20%, a decline of 500 basis points compared to the same period in the previous year. The primary cause of this decline was disruption in natural gas supply and an unprecedented increase in gas prices. However, fuel cost has started to come down since December 2022, primarily due to the increased use of alternative fuels and some fall in gas prices. The full impact of these changes is expected to be visible by March 2023,” said Ashok Kajaria, chairman and managing director of the company.
The board of directors approved additional acquisition upto 11,40,968 equity shares of Rs. 10 each of Kajaria Vitrified (KVPL), a subsidiary company, at a consideration of Rs. 1.80 crore. Presently, the company holds 87.37% equity shares in KVPL and after completion of the proposed acquisition of 11,40,968 equity shares of KVPL, holding of the Company in the equity shares of KVPL would be increased to 95%. As on March 31, 2022, KVPL had a turnover of Rs 233.09 crore and PAT of Rs 12.95 crore.
They also approved the modernisation of the manufacturing facility at Gailpur, Rajasthan for ceramic tiles by replacing the existing Kilns with latest model of Kilns having capacity for production of bigger size of ceramic tiles including other latest equipment, as may be required. The said modernisation will involve Rs. 51.11 crore and is expected to be completed by July 2023.
The board approved to divest entire Kajaria’s stake i.e. 1,22,40,000 equity shares of Rs 10 each in Vennar Ceramics , a subsidiary company in a phased manner, at a consideration of Rs. 18.25 crore. The expected date of completion is March 31, 2024.
The board of directors have declared interim dividend of Rs 6 per equity share of face value of Rs 1 each for the financial year 2022-23, the company said in a regulatory filing.
During the quarter, the company had subscribed additional 950 shares of Kajaria International DMCC, Dubai (wholly owned subsidiary) at a consideration of Rs 2.14 crore (AED 0.95 million), making total investment of Rs 2.25 crore (AED 1 million). Further, the entity has subsequent to the quarter end invested AED 0.5 million in the equity shares of Kajaria RMF Trading LLC, Dubai to acquire 50% shareholding of the entity.
