India's Asian Paints misses Q2 profit view on delayed festive season hit

BENGALURU, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Indias Asian Paints (ASPN.NS) on Thursday reported a smaller-than-expected jump in second-quarter profit, hurt by muted demand due to a patchy monsoon and late festive season, sending its shares down nearly 2%.

The countrys top paint maker said its domestic decorative paints business, which accounts for more than 80% of the revenue, was muted during the quarter.

Shares of Asian Paints, which is part of the blue chip Nifty 50 index (.NSEI), fell as much as 3.5% to 2,952.80 rupees after the results.

\“The erratic monsoon impacted market sentiment potentially leading to deferment of sales to October given the late Diwali this year,\” Chief Executive Officer Amit Syngle said in a statement.

A drop in expenses and moderating raw material prices helped ease the companys margins and aided it in posting a 54% rise in net profit to 12.05 billion rupees ($144.86 million), but fell short of analysts estimate of 12.42 billion rupees, as per LSEG data.

The Mumbai-based companys revenue from operations was largely flat, with a 0.3% rise to 84.79 billion rupees.

\“Looking towards the second half of the year, we remain optimistic about improved demand conditions well supported by the longer festive season and the overall buoyant domestic economic growth,\” Syngle added.

($1 = 83.1830 Indian rupees)