PL First Cut – Astral Ltd Q1FY24

PL First Cut – Astral Ltd Q1FY24 – Praveen Sahay – Research Analyst, Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt Ltd

Astral Ltd Q1FY24 Result First cut

CMP: Rs1974 | Mcap: Rs 530bn | HOLD

Healthy performance with strong volume growth, above est.

➡️ Astral’s revenue of Rs 12.8bn (up 5.8% YoY) was 5.5% ahead of our est. (PLe. 12.2bn) and 1.3% below cons. est., led by 7.1% YoY growth in plumbing revenue and 31% volume growth vs Supreme Ind./Finolex Ind./Apollo Pipes/Prince Pipe 48%/28%/47%/19% YoY.

➡️ New business of faucet and sanitary ware of Rs165mn for FY23 and Rs 34mn for the Q1FY24.

➡️ Gross margin expanded by 610bps YoY to 37.3%, above our est. of 36%, on account of improvement in product mix in pipe business towards CPVC.

➡️ EBITDA stood at Rs2.0bn (up 17.4% YoY), 2.5% higher than our est. (PLe. Rs1.97bn) and 8.1% below cons. est.

➡️ EBITDA margin expanded 160bps YoY to 15.7%, below our & cons. est. of 16.2% & 16.9%, on account of higher EBITDA per Kg in pipe&fitting business of Rs34.5 (down 2.9% YoY), while Plumbing EBITDA margin improved by 280bps YoY and maintained margin in Paints and Adhesives Business at 14%.

➡️ PAT stood at Rs1.2bn (up 27.2 YoY), 3.1% above our est. (Rs 1.16bn) & 8.1% below cons. est.