For Specialty Chemical manufacturers the weak demand from developed countries following interest rate hikes, higher exports from China impacting realizations and destocking cycle has had significant impact on earnings during last few quarters. First half performance has remained a mixed bag. The positive however now is that decline and normalization in overall costs and upbeat managements commentaries post Q2 results that keep analysts optimistic on forward prospects during second half in spite of challenges.
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Q2 was a disappointing quarter all across the chemicals segment said Rohit Nagraj at Centrum Institutional Research. Severely impacted by weakness in exports markets coupled with pricing pressure, chemical companies reported their weakest performance in the past several quarters, said Nagraj. China dumping slowed down, however inventory destocking continued in global market impacting the exports performance.
Specialty Chemicals are weathering the destocking storm as per analysts at Motilal Oswal Financial Services. Alkyl Amines Chemicals Limited, Clean Science and Technology Limited, Deepak Nitrite, Navin Fluorine International Ltd, missed their revenue estimates, while Atul Ltd beat their estimates. On net profit front, Deepak Nitrite, NOCIL Ltd posted a beat, while the rest of their coverage companies missed estimates.
The concerns on remain as we move ahead . The outlook for FY24 is anticipated to remain subdued due to ongoing destocking at the customer’s end, compounded by aggressive pricing-driven dumping from China. Additionally, capacity expansion has experienced delays due to the aforementioned factors said analysts at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.
However the positive is that management commentaries have remained encouraging. As per the Gist of Management comments prepared by analysts at Centrum Institutional equities on operating environment-
High cost inventories are largely exhausted during the fist half and now the low cost raw material shall start reflecting in financial performance.
China dumping has slowed down, however, volatility due to volatile crude prices still remains, said analysts.
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Utilities cost has thus started going up slowly. Both domestic and international logistics costs have been normalized.
The destocking in chemicals is now approaching the end and normalised demand shall start in near future, said analysts
Thus while the challenges will continue however second half should be better than first half for Specialty Chemcials Sector
Post Q2FY24, Galaxy Surfactants and Vinati Organics ltd are amongst the top picks of Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
Disclaimer: The views and recommendations made above are those of individual analysts or broking companies, and not of Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions
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