Berger Paints to pip pre-Covid biz mark by June

Kolkata:

Berger Paints

India is confident of earning more revenue than it did during the pre-COVID days, and hopes to build on it further in the second quarter. The managing director of the paints major, Abhijit Roy, told TOI that he expects to wrap up this month on a high, having made more money compared to June 2019.

Roy pointed out that the growth can be attributed to upcountry and rural markets. “This is perhaps because cities are more affected by coronavirus than those (upcountry) areas,” he added.

The paints major feels that the second quarter would be even better when compared to the same period last year. “There will be good growth. In May, Berger had achieved 80% of its pre-Covid level revenue. Only in April, there was hardly anything. In March, the revenue was 40% negative, which had also affected the last quarter of 2019-20. Till February, however, we were doing well,” Roy explained.

The net profit of the paints giant was marginally down to Rs 103.2 crore in the fourth quarter ending March 31, 2020, from Rs 110.4 crore in the corresponding period of the last fiscal. The revenue from operations for the quarter ending March 31, 2020, was Rs 1,354.8 crore against Rs 1,472.1 crore in the year-ago period. However, for the whole year, it has achieved a 32% jump in net profit (consolidated).

Amid the current situation, Berger is changing the catch line for ‘Berger Express Painting’, the one stop paints solution of the company. “From ‘faster, cleaner and better’ we have changed the catch line to ‘faster, cleaner and safer’. We are also linking our painters with the ‘Aarogya Setu’ app. The company is also ensuring contact-less home delivery of material,” he added.

Commenting on possible impact on trade ban of Chinese products, the Berger MD said it would have very little impact on the paints industry. “We are neutral. Neither would it have any positive impact nor negative.”

According to Roy, unlike many other products, in paints, the top two players — Asian Paints and Berger — are Indian companies. “Nippo, Akzo are among the leaders in China who are (doing business) here already. On the raw materials front, too, we are not much dependent on Chinese materials. It constitutes only 10% of our inputs,” he added.

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Amid the current situation, Berger is changing the catch line for ‘Berger Express Painting’, the one stop paints solution of the company. “From ‘faster, cleaner and better’ we have changed the catch line to ‘faster, cleaner and safer’. We are also linking our painters with the ‘Aarogya Setu’ app. The company is also ensuring contact-less home delivery of material,” he added.

Commenting on possible impact on trade ban of Chinese products, he added it would have very little impact on the paints industry. “We are neutral. Neither would it have any positive impact nor negative,” he added.

According to Roy, unlike many other products, in paints, the top two players — Asian Paints and Berger — are Indian companies. “Nippo, Akzo are among the leaders in China who are (doing business) here already. On the raw materials front, too, we are not much dependent on Chinese materials. It constitutes only 10% of our inputs,” he added.


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