India's Kajaria Ceramics profit falls more than expected on sluggish demand

Somany Ceramics

22/10/2024 10:15

Oct 22 (Reuters) - Indian tile maker Kajaria Ceramics  KAJR.NS  reported a bigger-than-expected fall in its
second-quarter profit on Tuesday amid sluggish domestic demand as monsoon rains slowed construction activity.
    Consolidated net profit fell 22% to 842.7 million rupees ($10 million) in the quarter ended Sept. 30 from 1.08
billion rupees a year earlier.
    Analysts, on average, had expected a profit of 1.07 billion rupees, according to estimates compiled by LSEG.
    Revenue from operations increased about 5%, marking the eight straight quarter of single-digit growth, according
to LSEG data.

For further earnings highlights, click: (FWN3LX1FR)

    KEY CONTEXT
    Tiles demand has been sluggish in the world's most populous country, with strong construction activity in
western, eastern, and central India countering weakness in northern and southern parts.
    Construction, which was hit by an election-linked slowdown in the first quarter, did not pick up as above-average
monsoon rains kept infrastructure activity subdued.

    
    PEER COMPARISON                                                
                                   Valuation(next    Estimates (next 12          Analysts' sentiment             
                                     12 months)           months)                                            
                         RIC       PE    EV/EBITDA   Revenue     Profit    Mean      # of       Stock to       Div
                                                    growth (%)   growth   rating*  analysts       price       yield
                                                                  (%)                           target**       (%)
  Kajaria Ceramics     KAJR.NS    40.34    25.06      12.62      20.61      Buy       29          0.90         0.86
   Somany Ceramics     SOCE.NS    19.71    10.64      10.20      30.36    Strong      17          0.76         0.43
                                                                            Buy                              
  Cera Sanitaryware    CERA.NS    36.34    25.98      10.73      11.39     Hold       11          0.82         0.77
       Astral          ASTL.NS    63.99    39.07      17.96      26.54     Hold       20          0.88         0.20
 * Mean of analysts' ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell
 ** Ratio of the stock's last close to analysts' mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above
the PT
    
    JULY-SEPTEMBER STOCK PERFORMANCE
  
 ** 
 **
 
    -- All data from LSEG
    -- $1 = 84.0530 rupees

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KAJARIA CERAMICS JULY-SEPT    https://tmsnrt.rs/3A4BQj4
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 (Reporting by Yagnoseni Das and Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
 ((Yagnoseni.Das@thomsonreuters.com;))