CEAT Q3 results: Tyre maker eyes high single-digit to double-digit growth in FY25

CEAT reported an over-four-fold surge in its consolidated net profit at ₹181.28 crore, a 417% surge, in the quarter ended December 31, 2023, from ₹34.85 crore in the same period a year ago. The tyre maker also reported an improvement in margin aided by raw material cost reduction and operational efficiencies.

In an interaction with CNBCTV-18, Arnab Banerjee, MD & CEO, CEAT said that the company will clock high single-digit to double-digit growth in the financial year 2025.

"FY25 is a bit far away. We are in the planning process right now. But given the OEM growth that we have witnessed in the last few years, if you translate it to replacement and our ambition in international, we would like to plan high single-digit to double-digit kind of volume growth for FY25," he said.

The consolidated revenue from operations for the quarter under review stood at ₹2,963.14 crore, up from ₹2,727.2 crore in the corresponding period in the previous fiscal. CEAT said in a regulatory filing that the board approved capital expenditure proposals of up to ₹572 crore for various purposes, including capacity addition and rooftop solar at the existing plants. The amount is to be spent over the next three years.

Banerjee said that volume growth was at 12.5%, led by 25% growth in the export business. "Quarter three volume growth was very robust at about 12.5%, led by the international business at 25%; replacement volume growth was also very healthy, and OEM was a tad lower. So we are looking at a similar kind of volume growth in quarter four as well."

CEAT reported an improvement in margin aided by raw material cost reduction and operational efficiencies. During the October–December quarter, raw material costs were reduced to ₹1,738.5 crore from ₹1,785.2 crore a year ago.

The Red Sea crisis is a major trade disruption affecting companies, especially those dependent on exports and imports. Banerjee said that freight rates have gone up due to the issue.

"It (the Red Sea crisis) has an impact because the freight rates have gone up. So to that extent, there could be an impact on the imported landed cost of raw materials. On the international business side, Europe will be impacted, but Europe is already in a sort of recession. So the damage will be limited in that case. We don't see a major disruption so far—the impact is the freight rate."