Pidilite: Lower oil price the only saving grace, challenging times ahead

Lower input costs, led by soft crude oil prices, lend some hope

Pidilite Industries’ March quarter (Q4) results indicated that sales recovery would remain a challenge, though benign input costs — led by lower crude oil prices — could provide comfort.

In Q4, Pidilite’s consolidated top line declined by 5.8 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 1,545 crore, dragged by a 4.2 per cent fall in domestic volumes. Profit before tax (PBT) and exceptional items fell 12.3 per cent YoY to Rs 255 crore. These were lower than consensus estimates of Rs 1,570 crore and Rs 301 crore, respectively.

PBT saw a higher impact, due to the sharp fall in other income — to