 "Galaxy Surfactants' consolidated Q2 PAT declines 49% to Rs 42 crore")
Speciality chemicals maker Galaxy Surfactants on Thursday reported a 48.9 per cent decline in consolidated profit after tax (PAT) to Rs 42 crore for the September 2021 quarter.
The company's consolidated PAT for the corresponding period of previous fiscal stood at Rs 82 crore, Galaxy Surfactants said in a statement.
Its total revenue during July-September 2021 grew 22 per cent to Rs 882 crore, compared with Rs 723 crore in the year-ago period.
"This has been a challenging quarter for us. While the demand scenario remains intact and robust, our ability to service the same got seriously impinged in this quarter.
"While quarter-on-quarter, the volumes have de-grown marginally by 2 per cent, y-o-y, we have registered a decline of seven per cent," Galaxy Surfactants Managing Director U Shekhar said.
The second quarter began with availability issues with respect to Lauryl Alcohol (sourced from SE Asia which was majorly shut due to the pandemic) and Ethylene Oxide, the two key feedstocks used for manufacturing the company's performance surfactants, he added.
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"This adversely impacted our performance in AMET as well as India. One positive that has emerged in this gloomy environment is the structural uptick we are seeing in our domestic (India) volumes.
"Despite the heavy base (pent-up demand) in second quarter FY21 and supply-led volatility in the second quarter of FY22, we have y-o-y held ground and registered a one per cent q-o-q growth," he said.
With the shipping industry facing a major overhaul, freight rates have been hitting the sky. Month-on-month rates are rising by nearly 10-40 per cent and the container unavailability issues led to delays in shipment, increased costs and adversely impacted the specialty volumes and overall margins, he said.
"While the demand scenario continues to remain robust, we do hope normalcy gets restored when it comes to the supply side. At Galaxy, while the performance might be muted, we remain fully committed to turn this around," he added.
Shares of the company on Thursday were trading at Rs 3,033.95, down 3.53 per cent on the BSE.
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