Prestige Estates
The company posted a ‘flattish’ set of numbers for Q1FY15 with net profit for the quarter coming in at Rs.25.81 crore compared to Rs.25.79 crore in previous Q1 and Rs.26.21 crore in Q4. Net sales rose 10% (YoY) at Rs.336 crore and the bottomline could have turned in higher but for the higher operating costs, which rose 13%. Costs were led mainly by raw material, employee benefits and depreciation, which jumped up 3 times. Other income was down 29%. The fall in net profit was, to some extent arrested due to the 80% drop in interest outgo and tax expense also fell from Rs,11 crore to Rs.9 crore.
The company has blamed this performance on the overall fall in demand, inflation, weak monsoon. The good news though was that South markets did show signs of improvement with power cuts in the state coming down from June’14. The base effect on account of the induction cooktop bundled products is also one of the reasons for the lower bottomline. Exports during the quarter rose 25% and it entered into a new category – water filters with Swiss technology. The very good news in the company – its net borrowings as at 30th June 2014 stands at NIL. Looking ahead, a weak monsoon could affect demand and the company might have to give more impetus to exports to make up for the weak domestic growth.