The company's net profit fell 60.86% year-on-year to Rs 34.1 crore in Q1 FY25.

Century Plyboards India Ltd. is expected to hike prices across categories to contain the margins after a significant dip in net profit in the first quarter of fiscal 2025.

The company is mulling price rise as the timber price could be on the higher side, according to Keshav Bhajanka, executive director of Century Plyboards India Ltd.

Bhajanka expects the timber price to remain on the higher side and the company could announce another price hike to tackle the margin issue. “In our plywood segment, we have taken a price increase. We took a price increase last quarter and we are taking a price increase this year as well,” he said.

The company's net profit fell 60.86% year-on-year to Rs 34.1 crore in the first quarter of the fiscal 2024-25, against Rs 87.12 crore in the year-ago period. On the other hand, revenue increased 12% YoY to Rs 1,014 crore in the period under review compared to Rs 903 crore in the year-ago period. The company's Ebitda dropped 17% to Rs 120 crore versus Rs 145 crore in the year-ago period.

The company managed to do well despite a muted demand environment, Bhajanka said. "If you look at the plywood segment YoY volume would be up 14-15% and our value will also be higher. Our realisation would be up 1-1.5%."

The company faced some pressure in the MDF segment, in terms of realisation, going into an extremely competitive demand environment, he said.

"However, we have still clocked in 25% value growth on account of 40% plus volume growth. Laments have been more or less flattish but across our segment we have been within the threshold limit of our margin guidance," he said.

Source: ndtvprofit.com