Blue Star Confident Of Surpassing Industry Growth Rate In Q4 Led By Strong Demand
Vir S Advani wished for two things from Union Budget — public capex and ways to put money in consumers’ hands.
Blue Star is confident that strong demand for air conditioners in Q4 will drive the company’s revenue growth, surpassing the industry standard of at least 20%, according to the company’s Chairman and Managing Director Vir S Advani.
Blue Star’s revenue from operations increased by 25.3% year-on-year to Rs 2807.36 crore in Q2, compared to Rs 2241.19 crore during the same period the previous year.
Talking to NDTV Profit, Advani said that his company is expecting a “reasonably good” fourth quarter this year.
“You are aware that the summer season that we have just gone through last year was an excellent season. So both Q4 of last year and Q1 of last year were very strong for the industry. We're expecting a reasonably good Q4 this year,” he said.
Demand is expected to grow by 25%, and Blue Star will perform “slightly better” than the industry, Advani stated.
“Compared to last year, we should see demand growth. We are expecting 20% to 25%. We're expecting BlueStar to do slightly better than the market demand,” he said.
Even with a reduced demand than last year, the air conditioner industry revenue will increase by at least 20%, according to the Blue Star CMD.
“Consumer products and consumer goods demand has been lower than last year. It's the same in air conditioning as well. But on an absolute basis, even at a reduced level, the growth rate should be very good for our industry. We're expecting at least 20%,” Advani mentioned.
BlueStar’s Budget Wishlist
Advani talked to NDTV Profit just days ahead of the Union Budget on Feb. 1, mentioning that his company wants two things from the finance minister this year.
“There are two things that drive our business. In Segment 1, which is our B2B business, we really need public capex to come back to the level that it was before the elections. So we're very hopeful that there may be some push by the government to move a lot of that capex along,” he said.
The other thing the Blue Star CMD wished for was for the government to put more money in the hands of the consumers so that they could buy air conditioners and other such appliances.
“The other one is on the B2C part, which is all consumption-driven. Anything that can put more money in the hands of our consumers will be a big help for us. I think those are the only two things we need,” Advani said.
Shares of Blue Star Ltd. ended Thursday's trading 1.95% lower at Rs 1791.95 apiece on the NSE in comparison to the benchmark Nifty 50's rise of 0.37%.
