India's JK Paper reports Q1 profit jump on robust demand

Andhra Paper

24/07/2023 12:13

BENGALURU, July 24 (Reuters) - India's JK Paper
 JKPA.NS  reported a higher profit for the tenth straight
quarter on Monday, led by growing demand and higher prices for
its paper and packaging boards.
    The company's consolidated net profit after tax climbed
17.8% to 3.09 billion rupees ($37.76 million) in the first
quarter ended June 30, also helped by lower coated paper and
import prices as well as lower mechanical pulp rates for
packaging modes.
    JK Paper and its peers have benefited from rising demand
from offices as work-from-office slowly reverts to the norm and
as companies continue to substitute plastic with paper.
    India banned single-use plastics in mid-2022 for packaging
and products such as drinking cups.
    The strong demand has also helped paper companies push up
their prices, helping their net sales realisation, or NSR, which
boosted revenue by about 11% to 15.84 billion rupees.
    Its total costs rose 12.4% in the quarter - weighed by
materials consumed and employee costs - but this was a marked
slowdown from the 101.5% surge in the year-ago quarter and a 26%
in the previous quarter.
    Shares of JK Paper fell 16.1% from April to June, compared
with gains of 1.2% and 1.3% in the stocks of Andhra Paper and
TCPL, respectively, while Tamil Nadu Newsprint and West Coast
Paper fell 4.1% and 5.7%, respectively. 

($1 = 81.8254 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Navamya Ganesh Acharya in Bengaluru; Editing by
Janane Venkatraman)
 ((Navamya.GaneshAcharya@thomsonreuters.com; +91 8805175330 ;))