India’s V-Guard reports profit above estimates on strength in wires business

(Reuters) -India’s V-Guard Industries, which focuses largely on selling wires, reported a bigger-than-expected rise in quarterly profit on Wednesday on strong demand for fans, air coolers and air conditioners ahead of the summer.

Consolidated net profit rose nearly 20% to 911.3 million rupees ($10.7 million) in the three months to March 31, beating analysts’ average estimate of 904.9 million rupees, according to data compiled by LSEG.

It saw robust demand during the January-March quarter, when consumers buy fans, air coolers and air conditioners ahead of the summer, also leading to higher sales of wires.

“Fourth quarter is usually a strong one in our industry. The summer portfolio of V-Guard starts to play,” said V Ramachandran, chief operating officer at V-Guard.

V Guard’s revenue from operations grew 14.5% to 15.38 billion rupees, beating analysts’ estimate of 15.18 billion rupees.

Revenue in the electricals segment, which houses wires, grew 14.6% year on year. It accounted for 43.3% of total revenue.

The biggest growth, of 26.3%, was in the electronics segment, which sells stabilizers and solar inverters.

Revenue from sales of consumer durables such as fans and air coolers grew nearly 12%. However, revenue from sales of kitchen appliances under the Sunflame brand declined 24.2%.

(Reporting by Ananta Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza)