PL First Cut – Century Plyboards India Ltd. Q1FY24

PL First Cut – Century Plyboards India Ltd. Q1FY24 – Praveen Sahay – Research Analyst, Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt Ltd

Century Plyboards India Ltd. Q1FY24 Result First Cut

CMP: Rs649 | Mcap: Rs144bn | BUY

Below estimates, Margin contraction with laminate & MDF segment

➡️ Century Plyboards reported a revenue of Rs8.9bn flat YoY (PLe: Rs9.6bn), 4.0% below consensus, due to weak performance in laminate (-4.7% YoY) & plywood (+3.1% YoY).

➡️ Gross margin expanded 20bps YoY to 48.4%, (PLe: 45.8%) despite sustained input cost pressure in most of the wood panel segments.

➡️ EBITDA is Rs1.3bn (PLe:Rs1.5bn) down 7.0% YoY. EBITDA margin stood at 14.9% contracting 120bps YoY (PLe: 15.6%) vs cons. est 15.8%.

➡️ PBT decline by 7.7% YoY to Rs1.16bn (PLe: Rs 1.3bn) due to higher interest & depreciation expenses apart from lower operating margin.

➡️ PAT stood at Rs871mn (down 5.9% YoY, PLe: Rs 975mn) and down 8.5% consensus estimate of Rs 953mn.

Segment Details:

Plywood

➡️ Plywood (contributed ~56% of sales v/s 54% in Q1FY23) revenue at Rs 5.0bn (up 3.1% YoY), was ahead of our estimate of Rs5.2bn. EBIT came in at Rs 653mn (up 40% YoY), EBIT margin expanded 350bps YoY to 13.1%.

Laminates

➡️ Laminates (contributed ~17% of sales v/s 18% in Q1FY23) revenue stood at Rs 1.6bn (down 4.7% YoY), which was below our estimate (PLe: Rs 1.9bn), vs Greenlam 9.7% YoY growth. EBIT stood at Rs 140mn (down 36% YoY) with 440bps YoY contraction in EBIT margin to 9.0%.

MDF

➡️ MDF (contributed ~19% of sales v/s 17% in Q1FY23) revenue came in at Rs 1.7bn (up 7.2% YoY), ahead of our estimate of Rs 1.9bn. EBIT stood at Rs 403omn (down 23.6% YoY) and margin contracted by 980bps YoY to 24.2%.