Mumbai, Jan 15 (IANS) Tyre major CEAT Ltd. saw its net profit nearly halve to Rs 97 crore in the October-December quarter of the current financial year even as the company’s revenue rose 11.4 per cent to Rs 3,300 crore, according to an exchange filing on Wednesday.
The RPG Goenka group company’s net profit declined by 46.5 per cent during the quarter, its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) was down 18.3 per cent at Rs 341 crore while the EBITDA margin was at 10.3 per cent vs 14.1 per cent.
On a consolidated basis, the company’s revenue closed at Rs 3,299.9 crore, an increase of 11.4 per cent year-on-year.
Commenting on the results as well as the outlook of the business, CEAT Ltd MD & CEO Arnab Banerjee said: “We witnessed a strong year-on-year double-digit growth, driven by the replacement segment. While the rising raw material costs have impacted our margins, we progressively passed on part of the increase through price increases in select categories during the quarter.”
“The demand continues to remain stable, and our order book pipeline is robust across all segments. Raw material prices look flattish in Q4 and we expect growth momentum to continue,” he added.
On a standalone basis, the Company’s revenue stood at Rs. 3,291.8 crore, up 11.6 per cent year-on-year.
CEAT chief financial officer Kumar Subbiah said: “The gross margins were impacted during the quarter due to the increase in raw material cost. A part of it we managed through price increases and cost controls. Meanwhile, our capex during the quarter was Rs 283 crore, which was fully funded through internal controls and hence, our debt level has remained at a similar level.”
On Wednesday, CEAT shares rose 0.51 per cent to Rs 3,057.50 apiece on the BSE even as the benchmark Sensex ended the day 0.29 per cent lower at 76,724.08 points. The quarterly results were declared after market hours.
–IANS
sps/vd
