Day before, it was Apollo Tyres which enthralled the markets with its very good Q3 numbers and yesterday, it was Ceat. Clearly, the lower rubber prices,despite the not-so-good auto sector is helping these companies! Ceat, for Q3FY13, posted a whopping 176% (YoY) jump in consolidated net profit at Rs.22.4 crore on a 13% rise in net sales at Rs.1238.50 crore. Its EBIDTA rose 63% and the EBIDTA margins were up from 6.3% to 8.9%. This rise in bottomline is despite an exceptional outgo of Rs.14 crore towards VRS  for its employees at the Bhandup unit in Mumbai. 188 employees opted for the VRS.

There was a 15% surge in volume spread across all segments, led mainly by motor cycle tyres, which for the first time for the company crossed 5 lakh tyres/month in the months of Oct, Nov and Dec. But what also helped the fall in rubber prices, which fell by a huge 78% to Rs.180/kg on a YoY. Looking ahead, the company has invested Rs.11 crore in its Bangladesh subsidiary and it has also entered into a JV with, 70:30, with A K Khan Company. Its plant is expected to go on stream in Q3FY15, with a capacity of 65 tpd which will be ramped up to 110 tpd.