APL Apollo Tubes misses Q3 profit view on higher raw material costs

BENGALURU (Reuters) - Steel tube maker APL Apollo Tubes Ltd reported a smaller-than-expected rise in quarterly profit on Thursday, hurt by higher raw material costs.

The company said its consolidated profit rose 32% to 1.69 billion rupees ($20.61 million) for the third quarter ended Dec. 31, from 1.28 billion rupees a year earlier.

Analysts, on an average, had expected a profit of 1.78 billion rupees, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

The company recorded its biggest-ever quarterly sales, while total expenses jumped 34% to 41.01 billion rupees, mainly due to a surge in material costs.

Apollo Z, the company's rust-proof structures segment and its second-biggest business, posted a 7% drop in sales volume.

Total revenue from operations climbed 34% to 43.27 billion rupees billion rupees, led by higher volumes at Apollo Structurals.

Apollo's shares were up about 2% in afternoon trading.

They climbed 9.2% last year, underperforming a 21.8% increase in India's Nifty Metal index.

($1 = 81.9930 Indian rupees)

 

(Reporting by Ashna Teresa Britto; Editing by Sohini Goswami)