Britannia Industries is trading lower by 2.5% at Rs 468 in otherwise firm market after reporting a lower than expected 21% year-on-year (yoy) growth in net profit at Rs 46 crore for the second quarter ended September 2012. Net sales grew 9% at Rs 1,403 crore on y-o-y basis.
Analyst on an average had expected net sales of Rs 1,449 crore and net profit of Rs 50 crore for the quarter.
The company’s raw material cost increased by 20% at Rs 775 crore, while advertisement and sales promotion expenses by 18% at Rs 118 crore on y-o-y basis.
Analyst at Religare Institutional Research has trimmed the company’s FY13/FY14 earnings estimate by around 15% each to factor in lower sales and margin pressures. However, analyst maintains HOLD on the stock with a revised Sep’13 target price of Rs 500.
The stock opened at Rs 483 on the National Stock Exchange and has seen a combined 114,531 shares changing hands on the counter so far.
