Paint maker Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd on Wednesday (November 6) reported a 30.7% year-on-year (YoY) slide in net profit at ₹122.8 crore for the second quarter that ended September 30 against  ₹177.2 crore in the corresponding period in the last fiscal.

The company’s revenue from operations dipped 0.3% to ₹1,951.4 crore compared to ₹1,956.5 crore in the year-ago period.

At the operating level, EBITDA increased 22.4% to ₹212 crore in the second quarter over ₹177.2 crore in Q2 of FY24.

Also Read: Apollo Hospitals beats the Street, Q2 net profit zooms 60% to ₹396 crore, revenue up 15%

The EBITDA margin stood at 10.9% in the reporting quarter compared to 14% in the corresponding period of FY24. EBITDA is earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation. “Margin was affected due to change in mix and ongoing investments in capability building for the future,” it said.

For the half year, net revenue was flat at ₹3,914 crore. EBITDA was at ₹549 crore, a drop of 9% over the same period of the previous year. Profit before tax and exceptional items was at ₹516 crore, down 6% over the same period of the previous year.

Anuj Jain, Managing Director of Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd, said, “The company is seeing strong growth in the areas of paint+ products, services, projects, construction chemicals and wood finishes. Overall demand in decoratives was affected by heavy and extended monsoons. A good monsoon would augur well, and we expect demand to improve in the second half.”

Also Read: Manappuram Finance Q2 net profit up 2% to ₹572 crore on strong NII, declares dividend

“In automotive, growth was good on the back of several initiatives and we expect this momentum to be maintained. Performance coating has also done well and is expected to remain strong on the back of a good order pipeline. Raw material prices initially showed an inflationary trend but as the quarter progressed, raw material prices have gradually started softening,” he added.

The results came after the close of the market hours. Shares of Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd ended at ₹285.75, up by ₹1.55, or 0.55%, on the BSE.