(Reuters) -India’s Blue Star reported a 2.9% rise in second-quarter profit on Wednesday, as strength in its commercial air-conditioning segment offset softness in residential demand.
Net profit rose to 990 million rupees ($11.26 million) from 962 million rupees a year earlier, while revenue for the quarter ended June 30 increased 6.4% to 24.22 billion rupees and expenses climbed 6.3% to 22.99 billion rupees.
KEY CONTEXT
Demand for commercial air-conditioning systems has been driven by consistent growth in the number of factories built and revamped in India, as well as the recent surge in data center projects.
A 16.5% sales growth in commercial air-conditioning offset the impact of a 9.5% decline in residential air-conditioning for Blue Star, as consumers deferred purchases after the government announced sweeping cuts to goods and services taxes on August 15.
The cuts went into effect on September 22.
PEER COMPARISON
Valuation (next 12 Estimates (next 12 Analysts’ sentiment
months) months)
RIC PE EV/EBI Price/ Revenue Profit Mean No. of Stock to Div
TDA Sales growth (%) growth (%) rating* analyst price yield
s target** (%)
Blue Star 52.69 34.17 15.52 22.45 Hold 20 1.02 0.47
Crompton Greaves 26.73 17.32 2.11 9.22 14.60 Buy 30 0.69 1.06
Consumer
Electricals
Voltas 46.42 35.97 2.61 11.04 22.57 Hold 35 0.98 0.51
Havells India 50.85 33.82 3.68 11.81 18.19 Buy 25 0.88 0.67
* The mean of analyst ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell
** The ratio of the stock’s last close to analysts’ mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT
JULY TO SEPTEMBER STOCK PERFORMANCE
— All data from LSEG
— $1 = 87.8950 Indian rupees
(Reporting by Ananta Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
