Havells reported a strong revenue growth in second quarter but the margins were weak. The year-on-year(YoY) revenues for the quarter were up 23.3 percent at Rs 2,191 crore versus Rs 1,777.4 crore.

The YoY EBITDA too was up 2.2 percent at Rs 2,62.5 crore versus Rs 257 crore. The net profit was up 4.4 percent at Rs 1,78.6 crore versus Rs 171 crore. However, EBITDA margins were down YoY at 12 percent versus 14.4 percent.

Throwing more light on the Q2 performance and the outlook going forward, Anil Rai Gupta, CMD, Havells, told CNBC-TV18 that one should not extrapolate the H1 performance for the full fiscal because the first half of last fiscal was disrupted due to GST transition.

However, the company is hopeful of positive growth in the coming quarters. "New product launches are also doing well," he said.

Talking on the margins, he said special circumstances impacted the cable business but going forward there would be improvement in cable margins. "Lloyd would continue to see some headwinds in the next few quarters but the company is setting up a local manufacturing facility, which would be in operations soon and so things would better in terms of margins," he said.

On the consumer durable business, he said the company is doing well and is hopeful of growth continuing to be positive in the coming quarters too. “Water heaters, fans, water purifiers are doing well and appliance business is coming back on track,” he added.

With regards to lighting business that did not do well in Q2, he said overall the growth for the segment is around 18 percent, which is healthy even though prices are lower. However, volume growth in lighting segment is strong.

Talking about the weakness seen in the air-conditioning business, he said the sales were weak due to unseasonal rains in northern India in Q1 and Q2 that led to industry wide weakness but is hopeful of things getting better going forward. "Lloyd’s margins would improve once the manufacturing capabilities come through and dependency on imports reduce," said Gupta.

First Published:Oct 19, 2018 11:34 AM IST