Bathroom Stylist

Cera is the third largest player in the organised sanitary-ware market in the country. It sells bathroom fittings, faucets, shower panels, etc. Cera operates in an industry that thrives on construction activity. A slowdown in real estate bears down hard on sanitary-ware players. Inspite of the slowdown, Cera saw revenues and net profit up 23.8 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively. What's got the markets spooked about Cera is the last quarter's (Q4 FY15) top-line growth slowed down to 14.8 per cent as compared to revenue growth of 28 per cent in 9M FY15. Cera's stock was pummelled following the quarterly slowdown. To add to the company's worries, EBITDA margins fell 170 basis points (YOY) to 14.4 per cent on account of higher sales in the lower-margin faucet and tiles segment as compared to the more lucrative san

This article was originally published on July 09, 2015.