"Focused efforts in brand premiumization and optimized product mix of plumbing and SWR categories, led to improved realizations QoQ,” the company said in a statement. Raw material cost amounted to Rs 512 crore (down 22% YoY), employee benefit expenses aggregated to Rs 31 crore (down 11% YoY) and other expenses added up to Rs 73 crore (down 3% YoY). EBITDA improved by 6% to Rs 148 crore while EBITDA margin rose by 380 bps to 19.4% in Q4 FY23 over Q4 FY22.

Profit before tax in Q4 FY23 stood at Rs 128 crore, up by 9% from Rs 117 crore in Q4 FY22.

The company recorded a PAT of Rs 121 crore (down 51% YoY) and total sales of Rs 2,711 crore (up 2%) in FY23 over FY22.

Improvement in net working capital days – 57 days in March 2023 as compared to 68 days in March 2022. Cash conversion remained strong as inventory stood at 57 days in March 2023 as compared to 85 days in March 2022. Net cash position Rs 158 crore as of March 2023.

The company said that the performance for FY23 was adversely impacted by sharp decline in PVC prices leading to destocking and inventory losses severely impacting performance in H1 FY23.

Parag Chheda, joint managing director, Prince Pipes and Fittings, said, “The year saw an unprecedented volatility in input costs in PVC prices which led to significant inventory losses adversely affecting our profitability in H1 FY23.

We were able to mitigate the situation by cost and inventory optimization efforts. This trend reversed moderately from December 2022 and our resilient performance of Q3 FY23 strongly bounced back in Q4 FY23 with significant improvement in operational margins. In Q4, we reported a healthy profitability led by stable input prices and an improving product mix.

We continued to expand our product portfolio with the launch of state-of-the-art products in the Piping division, aligned to the Company's growth strategy of bringing innovative and global products to the domestic market. Our roll out of Modern Plumbing products is on course with encouraging response from channel partners.

Simultaneously, we are also implementing new, improved technologies to be future-ready, and all these efforts are key growth-oriented strategic measures towards better performance in FY 23-24. We are also set to launch the Bathware range towards the end of Q1 and are excited to deliver quality products and backed by a robust service network.”

Prince Pipes and Fittings is one of India's largest integrated piping solutions & multi polymer manufacturers. The company has been engaged in the manufacturing of polymer piping solutions in four types of polymers - CPVC, UPVC, HDPE, PPR.