P C Jeweller today posted a 27.39 per cent fall in its standalone net profit at Rs 106.97 crore in third quarter of 2016-17 due to poor domestic sales following demonetisation.
The company had clocked a net profit of Rs 147.34 crore in the year-ago period.
Net income fell to Rs 2,107.37 crore during the October-December period of the ongoing fiscal, from Rs 2,180.48 crore in the same period a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Its domestic sales fell to Rs 1,259.81 crore from Rs 1,586.03 crore, while exports rose sharply to Rs 847.56 crore from Rs 594.45 crore in the said period.
The company's expenses remained marginally lower at Rs 1,936.33 crore in the third quarter of this year as against Rs 1,964.17 crore in the same period last year.
"In spite of a surge in consumer demand during the festival season (October) and the first week of November, the demonetisation adversely affected the sales for a period of nearly three to four weeks, leading to quarter to quarter decline of 20 per cent in the domestic sales," the company said.
Though the gross margins in the domestic sales have remained stable, a decline in the sale volume has resulted in decline in absolute profit level, it added.
"However, this was a temporary blip only. The consumer sentiments started improving in December itself and the situation has returned to normal in January. The company is fully confident of making up the lost sales in fourth quarter of this year," the company noted.
On exports, the company said: "There has been a spike in export sales during third quarter mainly due to the fact that UAE had declared imposition of import duty on jewellery imports with effect from January 2017. This led to preponement of export orders and sales.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
