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 Home appliances maker Havells India reported a smaller-than-expected rise in second-quarter profit on Thursday, due to lower demand for its air conditioners and fans on account of the monsoon season and higher expenses.

Profit rose nearly 10% from a year earlier to 2.73 billion rupees ($32.5 million) for the three months ended Sept. 30, but fell short of analysts' expectations of 3.24 billion rupees, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Total expenses rose 18% year-on-year to 42.58 billion rupees.

The company's revenue from operations rose 16% to 45.33 billion rupees in the quarter.

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KEY CONTEXT

The September quarter is seasonally the weakest as demand runs dry post-summer, analysts at HDFC Securities said in a note this month, adding that weak consumer sentiment from inflationary pressures also negatively impacted demand.

Copper and aluminium prices-key raw materials for cables and wires-saw high volatility in prices, which impacted contribution margins and increased expenses in the second quarter, the company said.

Havells India, the biggest among its peers by market capitalisation, is the first to report second-quarter results.

PEER COMPARISON

Valuation (next 12 Estimates (next 12 Analysts' sentiment

months) months)

RIC PE EV/EBI Price/ Revenue Profit Mean # of Stock to Div

TDA Sales growth (%) growth (%) rating* analyst price yield

s target** (%)

Havells India 65.19 44.39 5.18 15.46 25.35 Hold 20 1.01 0.46

Crompton Greaves 39.99 26.90 2.70 12.80 29.35 Buy 32 0.87 0.71

Consumer Electricals

Voltas 60.22 46.36 2.79 17.86 69.88 Hold 33 1.18 0.29

Blue Star 59.65 39.78 -- 20.02 32.97 Buy 17 1.21 0.35

* The mean of analysts' ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell

** The ratio of the stock's last close to analysts' mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT

JULY-SEPTEMBER STOCK PERFORMANCE

-- All data from LSEG

-- $1 = 84.0280 Indian rupees