Balkrishna Industries January-March Profit Misses Estimate, Falls 25% 

Balkrishna Industries Ltd. posted a 24.7% on-year drop in consolidated net profit for the March quarter to ₹3.62 billion, missing Street expectations of ₹4.39 billion, as higher input, finance, and employee costs offset lower freight expenses. This marked the first year-on-year decline in five quarters.

Revenue from operations rose 2.8% on year to ₹27.47 billion, slightly ahead of estimates. Sequentially, net profit was down 17.6%, while revenue rose 8.1%.

Material costs—making up nearly 56% of total expenses—rose 8% on year to ₹13.17 billion. Other expenses increased 10.7% to ₹4.78 billion. Freight and forwarding costs dropped 24.7%, while depreciation and amortisation costs rose 2.3% to ₹1.76 billion. Operating margin declined to 15.5% from 18.4%, and net profit margin narrowed to 12.7% from 16.9%.

The company reported EBITDA of ₹7.03 billion, up 1% on year and above the Street view of ₹6.82 billion. EBITDA margin slipped 115 basis points to 24.8% due to raw material inflation.

Sales volume was flat at 82,062 tonnes for the quarter, while full-year 2024-25 volumes rose 8% on year to 315,273 tonnes. Europe remained the largest market with a 45.1% share, followed by India at 28.6% and the Americas at 15.2%.

For 2024-25, net profit rose 13.3% on year to ₹16.28 billion, and revenue grew 12% to ₹104.13 billion. EBITDA stood at ₹26.82 billion with a margin of 25.3%, up 50 basis points on year.

The board declared a final dividend of ₹4 per share and approved a ₹35 billion capital expenditure plan over three years. This includes new facilities at Bhuj for carbon black, a power plant, commercial vehicle tyres, rubber tracks, and passenger car radial tyres. The ongoing 35,000-tonne off-road tyre project at Bhuj is expected to be completed by the end of 2025-26.