Shares of Ceat Ltd slipped 10 per cent to Rs 1,165, hitting a nine-month low on the BSE in Tuesday’s intraday trade after the firm reported a 77 per cent year-on-year (YoY) decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 42 crore in Q2FY22 due to the higher depreciation and interest cost. The auto tyres and rubber products maker had posted a profit of Rs 182 crore in a year-ago quarter.

On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the stock dropped 8 per cent to Rs 1,191 in intra-day trade. The supply of the RPG group has been trading at its lowest level since January 8, 2021. At 10:52 am, the stock was down 5 per cent at Rs 1,230.70, compared to a 0.07 per cent decline in the S&P BSE Sensex. For the July-September quarter (Q2FY22), Ceat posted 23.9 per cent YoY growth in consolidated sales at Rs 2,452 crore. Gross margin contracted by 956 basis points (bps) year-on-year (YoY) and 203 bps QoQ to 36.9 per cent, impacted by cost inflation and mix.

However, the company’s margins improved slightly by 11 bps sequentially to 9.2 per cent despite gross margin contraction due to controlled employee costs and other expenses.