Kansai Nerolac Paints' Q4 net profit rises 89 pc to Rs 123.62 crore

Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd on Friday reported an increase of 89.14 per cent in its consolidated net profit to Rs 123.62 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2021.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 65.36 crore in the January-March quarter a year ago, Kansai Nerolac said in a BSE filing.

Its total revenue from operations was up 35.14 per cent at Rs 1,459.57 crore during the quarter under review compared to Rs 1,080.07 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Kansai Nerolac Paints Vice Chairman and Managing Director H M Bharuka said: "The quarter saw continued strong demand for both Decorative and Industrial Paints. Both Decorative and Industrial witnessed high double-digit volume growth in the quarter."

However, this number should be read on the low base of March last year when the lockdown was announced, he added.

"The continued aggressive cost control programme along with judicious management of overheads helped the company report a strong growth in EBITDA," Bharuka said the company has already taken some price increase and further increases will be taken going forward to compensate for the inflation.

Kansai Nerolac's total expenses were at Rs 1,302.06 crore, up 31.47 per cent, as against Rs 990.41 crore of FY 2019-20.

For the fiscal year 2020-21, Kansai Nerolac Paints' net profit was up 1.93 per cent at Rs 525.72 crore. It was Rs 515.78 crore in the previous year.

However, its total revenue from operations in the fiscal was down 3.9 per cent at Rs 5,074.25 crore. It was Rs 5,279.97 crore in 2019-20.

Meanwhile, in a separate filing Kansai Nerolac Paints informed the BSE that its board has recommended a final dividend of 400 per cent, which is Rs 4 per share, which includes a special dividend of Rs 2/ per share for the year.

"In addition, the company had declared an interim dividend of Rs 1.25 per share paid on November 27, 2020. Accordingly, the total dividend is 525 per cent (Rs 5.25 per share) for the financial year ended March 31, 2021 as compared to total dividend of 315 per cent (Rs 3.15 per share) declared last year," it added.

Over the outlook, Bharuka said: "Looking forward, the company is optimistic that demand would gain momentum, though in the short term the effect of the COVID 2nd wave has impacted demand across."

Shares of Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd on Friday settled at Rs 590.95 on the BSE, down 0.20 per cent from previous close.