Home decor companies struggle to shake off woes

Investors of listed home decor or building materials stocks are sitting on losses, with shares correcting from 52-week highs. These firms continue to struggle with challenges ranging from muted volumes, weak realizations to rising input costs.

- Harsha Jethmalani

The September quarter (Q2FY25) was more of the same. Sluggish demand, along with an extended monsoon and lower infrastructure spends, weighed on earnings, prompting earnings downgrades for FY25.

The 13 building materials stocks under the coverage of BOB Capital Markets saw muted year-on-year growth in aggregate for the seventh straight quarter, up a mere 1.3% in Q2. Ebitda was down 20.9% on-year due to margin pressure on account of heightened competition in a weak demand environment, said a BOB Capital Markets report on 19 November. Ebitda stands for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.