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Indian tile maker Kajaria Ceramics reported a bigger-than-expected fall in its second-quarter profit on Tuesday amid sluggish domestic demand as monsoon rains slowed construction activity.

Consolidated net profit fell 22% to 842.7 million rupees ($10 million) in the quarter ended Sept. 30 from 1.08 billion rupees a year earlier.

Analysts, on average, had expected a profit of 1.07 billion rupees, according to estimates compiled by LSEG.

Revenue from operations increased about 5%, marking the eight straight quarter of single-digit growth, according to LSEG data.

For further earnings highlights, click: (FWN3LX1FR)

KEY CONTEXT

Tiles demand has been sluggish in the world's most populous country, with strong construction activity in western, eastern, and central India countering weakness in northern and southern parts.

Construction, which was hit by an election-linked slowdown in the first quarter, did not pick up as above-average monsoon rains kept infrastructure activity subdued.

PEER COMPARISON

Valuation(next Estimates (next 12 Analysts' sentiment

12 months) months)

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

growth (%) growth rating* analysts price yield

(%) target** (%)

Kajaria Ceramics 40.34 25.06 12.62 20.61 Buy 29 0.90 0.86

Somany Ceramics 19.71 10.64 10.20 30.36 Strong 17 0.76 0.43

Buy

Cera Sanitaryware 36.34 25.98 10.73 11.39 Hold 11 0.82 0.77

Astral 63.99 39.07 17.96 26.54 Hold 20 0.88 0.20

* Mean of analysts' ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell ** 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 = 84.0530 rupees