In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Manish Sanghi, managing director, Everest Industries shares his views on the company’s Q2 numbers and his outlook for the future.
Everest Industries has turned profitable in the quarter ended September 2014. Net profit stood at Rs 3.4 crore as against loss of Rs 6.6 crore in same quarter last year.
Below is the transcript of Manish Sanghi’s interview with Ekta Batra & Reema Tendulkar on CNBC-TV18.
Reema: It’s a good quarter for you, a revenue growth. You have reported a profit of Rs 3.5 crore in Q2. What can you guide for FY15 in terms of revenues as well as profitability?
A: We had a decent quarter. Traditionally Q2 is weak because this is a quarter when we have monsoons and building construction has always been a very seasonal industry but we saw good happening in both our segments; the building products and the steel building we expect the momentum to pick up as we go forward particularly in the steel building segment.
We have new capacity coming on board and that should help us. The growth in ‘Make in India’ story is something which I am very optimistic about and we are seeing a perk up already happening in order book as well as in the order enquiry status. So, I expect it to end up well. Difficult to say right now where it will be but it will improve.
Ekta: Can you tell us how your building product segment did because that seem to have led the revenue growth this time and what would your guidance be as well on the same segment?
A: The building product is essentially two product line which is roofing as well as building goods. Roofing is essentially rural and partly industrial. We are expecting building activity in the rural sector as well as in the commercial sector to maintain the pace. We were initially having some doubts after the bad monsoon but the late perk up of the monsoon seems to have negated that negative impact.
Ekta: You would be able to do a positive EBITDA margin in your building product segment in the coming quarters as well?
A: Yes.
Reema: What about steel buildings because while the revenue growth over there is strong, I believe the company has posted an operational loss for steel buildings. What led to that operational loss and will it continue to remain loss making or can you turn it around?
A: Steel building is an interesting segment. It is a bellwether for what is going to happen to the manufacturing sector in India because we make factories and warehouses for companies. We were affected by steel price hike and we were carrying a large order book at fixed prices and that is what resulted in our profits not keeping pace. Much of that inventory of old orders has been exhausted, so I expect results to start improving in the coming quarters.
Source www.moneycontrol.com