(Reuters) – Blue Star on Wednesday reported second-quarter profit that missed estimates as it struggled to increase sales of commercial refrigeration appliances such as water coolers and deep freezers.
The company’s consolidated net profit rose 36% to 961.9 million rupees ($11.4 million) in the three months ended Sept. 30, but missed analysts’ expectations of 965.6 million rupees, according to estimates compiled by LSEG.
Revenue from its segment which makes water coolers and deep freezers rose just 5% as new quality control regulations crimped sales. The segment contributes about a third to the total revenue.
Delays in ramping up production of a new range of deep freezers also slowed revenue growth, the company said.
“The commercial refrigeration business faced setbacks in the first half of the year due to regulatory changes and we expect this impact to be temporary,” said Chairman and MD Vir Advani.
Still, Blue Star’s overall revenue jumped to 22.76 billion rupees, beating expectations of 22.2 billion rupees, helped by a 32% growth in the segment that makes commercial air conditioning systems.
(Reporting by Aleef Jahan and Chris Thomas; Editing by Eileen Soreng)
