BENGALURU (Reuters) – Indian household appliance maker Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals Ltd reported a bigger-than-expected 43% slump in third-quarter profit on Thursday, hit by muted demand for its fans and LED lighting products and soaring costs.
Consolidated net profit fell to 852.5 million rupees ($10.38 million) for the three months ended Dec. 31, from 1.48 billion rupees, a year earlier.
Analysts, on average, had expected the company to report a profit of 1.27 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
Total expenses jumped 16% to 14.23 billion rupees.
Consumer goods makers have been raising the prices of products to offset the high commodity costs, while demand waned in the face of rising inflation.
The company’s electric consumer durables business, which makes products such as fans and kitchen appliances, reported a 7.2% fall in revenue to 10.2 billion rupees. Revenue from the lighting business slumped 20%.
The Mumbai-based company’s revenue from operations rose 7.5% to 15.16 billion rupees, mainly due to its acquisition of a majority stake in kitchen appliances maker Butterfly Gandhimathi Appliances last year.
Last month, rival Havells India Ltd also reported a fall in quarterly profit, hit by weak demand in the face of inflation.
($1 = 82.0960 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Priya Sagar in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil)