Emami reports over 1% rise in Q1 profit after tax at Rs 39 crore

Homegrown FMCG firm Emami Ltd on Friday reported a 1.17 per cent increase in its consolidated profit-after-tax (PAT) to Rs 39.58 crore for the first quarter ended June.

The company had posted a PAT of Rs 39.12 crore during the April-June quarter of the previous fiscal, Emami said in a regulatory filing.

However, its revenue from operations during the quarter under review was down 25.79 per cent to Rs 481.34 crore as against Rs 648.64 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

Emami posted a resilient performance with improved margins in Q1FY21, defying the challenging times that the COVID-19 pandemic presented, said Emami.

According to the Kolkata-headquartered firm, supply chain, sales improved considerably in May and in June and revenues were even better with a high single-digit growth over the previous year.

During the quarter, Emami increased its gross margins by 230 bps at 66.5 per cent and EBIDTA margins by 490 bps at 25.5 per cent. Profit-after-tax increased by 1 per cent and PAT margins increased by 220 bps.

"This was possible due to stringent cost control measures and benign raw material prices, which helped improve the margins, despite a decline in the revenues, said Emami.

During the quarter, the company's healthcare and hygiene portfolio range performed exceedingly well growing strongly by 29 per cent.

However, offtakes of our summer portfolio were impacted due to the lockdown, coupled with a weak discretionary consumption environment, which led to an overall decline of 26 per cent in Q1FY21 with revenues at Rs 481 crore, said Emami.

Emami's total expenses was at Rs 358.36 crore in the first quarter of FY21, down 30.34 per cent as against Rs 514.50 crore.

Commenting on the result Emami Director Mohan Goenka said: "Our May performance had also shown considerable improvement as we navigated the current challenges to emerge successfully with our combating strategy to overcome the muted environment.

Its traditional channels were impacted due to both lockdown and social distancing norms, the e-commerce channel doubled its revenues during the quarter in the domestic Business.

International business was subdued due to the pandemic and declined by 19 per cent during the April-June quarter.

"The CSD business declined by 38 per cent during the quarter," it said.

Emami Director Harsha V Agarwal said: "We will be rolling out few more new products in health & hygiene segment in the coming couple of months.

Shares of Emami Ltd on Friday were trading at Rs246.45on BSE, up 3.44 per cent over previous close.