Asian Paints Ltd today posted 3.22 per cent decline in its consolidated net profit to Rs 251.11 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2013, due to slowdown in the demand during the period.
The company had posted a net profit of Rs 259.48 crore in the same period of previous fiscal.
“The company registered satisfactory growth in spite of the challenging environment. We witnessed slowdown in demand conditions in the quarter,” said Asian Paints Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer K B S Anand.
He added that industrial paints segment continues to be affected due to economic slowdown.
“Automotive coatings growth was affected due to subdued demand in the auto sector... Middle East has done well even though political events and macroeconomic uncertainty in some countries continues,” Anand added.
Net sales of the company, however, rose to Rs 2,713.67 crore during the quarter, compared to Rs 2,537.67 crore in the year-ago period.
For the 2013 fiscal, the company posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 1,113.88 crore, compared to Rs 988.73 crore in 2011-12 fiscal.
Net sales of the company rose to Rs 10,906.01 crore for the year ended March 31, 2013, against Rs 9,598.33 crore in the 2011—12 financial year.
The company said its board, which met today, has approved the sub—division of each equity share of the company of the face value of Rs 10 each fully paid up into 10 shares of the face value of Re 1 each.
The company’s board has also recommended a final dividend of Rs 36.50 per equity share of the face value of Rs 10 each for the 2012—13 fiscal.
Shares of Asian Paints were down by Rs 176.20 or 3.63% to close at Rs 4,673.60 on the BSE