Bengaluru (Reuters) – Whirlpool of India Ltd (WHIR.NS) reported a 23.7% drop in second-quarter profit on Friday, as the home appliances maker grappled with weak demand amid stiff competition.
Consolidated net profit fell to 365.8 million rupees ($4.39 million) in the quarter ended Sept. 30 from 479.3 million rupees a year ago.
Revenue from operations dropped more than 5% to 15.22 billion rupees.
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Key Context
Competitive intensity in the white goods sector has risen, analysts said. Pricing pressure is also expected to remain intense in the sector, leading to a reduction in operating margin to single digits in the medium term.
Whirlpool India recently rolled back prices and is focusing on reducing material and non-material costs.
The company also reported a profit decline in the previous four quarters.
Peer Voltas (VOLT.NS) reported a second-quarter profit below analysts’ estimates, hurt by higher raw material costs, while Havells India (HVEL.NS) reported higher profit on strong demand for cables.
Peer Comparison
| Valuation (next 12 months) | Estimates (next 12 months) | Analysts’ sentiment | |||||||
| RIC | PE | EV/EBITDA | Revenue growth | Profit growth | Mean rating* | # of analysts | Stock to price target** | Div yield (%) | |
| Whirlpool of India Ltd | (WHIR.NS) | 54.80 | 35.53 | 11.26 | 41.71 | Hold | 11 | 1.05 | 0.31 |
| Voltas Ltd | (VOLT.NS) | 43.33 | 30.86 | 16.29 | 44.11 | Hold | 38 | 0.92 | 0.51 |
| Havells India Ltd | (HVEL.NS) | 50.61 | 33.60 | 13.84 | 26.95 | Buy | 21 | 0.89 | 0.59 |
* Mean of analysts’ ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell ** Ratio of the stock’s last close to analysts’ mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT
July-September Stock Performance
— All data from LSEG
— $1 = 83.2575 rupees
