Kajaria Ceramics slides after Q2 PAT tumbles 23% YoY to Rs 86 cr

Profit before tax slipped 18.29% year on year to Rs 120.54 crore in the quarter ended 30 September 2024.

Total expenses rose 8.49% year on year to Rs 1,065.68 crore in Q2 FY25. Cost of material consumed at Rs 263.80 crore (up 11.17% YoY) while employee benefit expenses was at Rs 144.34 crore (up 11.05% YoY).

EBITDA in Q2 FY25 was at Rs 158.90 crore, down 11.57% from Rs 179.71 crore registered in Q2 FY24. EBITDA margin reduced to 13.47% as compared to 16.02% reported in the corresponding quarter previous year.

On half-yearly basis, the company's consolidated net profit declined 19.12% to Rs 177.86 crore on 4.90% increase in revenue to Rs 2,292.96 crore in H1 FY25 over H1 FY24.

The company's chairman said, 'Despite the sustained softness in domestic demand, our tile volumes in Q2FY25 grew by 8.5% YoY to 28.70 MSM. EBITDA margins remained soft at 13.5% for the quarter driven by muted margins reported by the bathware division which was largely attributable to losses incurred in the recently commissioned sanitaryware unit in Morbi and additional overheads incurred by Keronite unit in the tiles division which commenced operations during the quarter.

PAT for the quarter de-grew by 22% to Rs 84 crore in Q2FY25 as compared to Rs 108 crore in Q2FY24. We continue to maintain a positive demand outlook for the tile industry. With the rub-off of strong real estate demand likely to drive improvement in off-take for tiles in H2FY25, we expect the tiles industry to fare much better than it did in H1FY25.'

Meanwhile, the company's board declared an interim dividend of Rs 5 per share for FY24-25. The record date for the same is fixed as on 4th November 2024 and the dividend will be paid on or before 20 November 2024.

Kajaria Ceramics is the largest manufacturer of ceramic/vitrified tiles in India and the eighth largest in the world. It has present annual capacity of 84.45 million sq. meters (MSM) presently, distributed across eight plants - one at Sikandrabad in Uttar Pradesh, one at Gailpur, one at Malootana in Rajasthan, two at Morbi in Gujarat, one at Vijayawada, one at Srikalahasti in Andhra Pradesh and one at Balanagar in Telangana.