India's Asian Paints Q4 revenue declines on lower demand, price cuts

BENGALURU (Reuters) -India's Asian Paints reported a decline in fourth-quarter revenue on Thursday, as buyers switching to cheaper alternatives and price cuts to weather tougher competition weighed on the paintmaker.

Shares of the company traded 4.8% lower after reporting results.

Consolidated net sales at India's biggest paintmaker by market value slipped 0.6% to 87.02 billion rupees in the quarter ended March 31, while net profit of 12.57 billion rupees ($150.6 million) missed analysts' expectations as per LSEG data.

Sector leader Asian Paints will face the heat from Grasim Industries' entry into the country's already-crowded paints sector, analysts had said earlier this year.

Volumes at the company's mainstay domestic decorative business grew 10% in the quarter, but revenue declined 1.8% due to a weak demand environment and customers switching to cheaper options, the company said in a statement.

Macroeconomic headwinds in key geographies of Nepal and Egypt hit revenue growth in its international business, the company added.

Decorative business contributes nearly 90% to the company's annual revenue, as per its previous annual report. Asian Paints did not provide quarterly details on Thursday.

The company, however, remained confident about a pick-up in demand going forward with a favorable monsoon forecast, Managing Director and CEO Amit Syngle said.

($1 = 83.4720 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee and Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Varun H K)