 "Britannia")
Britannia Industries’ net earnings in the January-March quarter of FY23 jumped 47.1 per cent to Rs 558.7 crore as its profit before interest, depreciation and tax (PBIDT) went up 42.7 per cent. This came on the back of softening input costs helping operating margin.
The Nusli Wadia group firm’s revenue from operations in the quarter increased 13.3 per cent to Rs 4,023.2 crore amid significant distribution gains.
The maker of Good Day and Marie Gold biscuits saw its PBIDT at Rs 861.3 crore. Analysts, on average, expected the firm to report a net profit of Rs 503 crore, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
In a release, Varun Berry, vice-chairman and managing director, Britannia Industries, said: “We continued to accelerate our rural journey with focus on enhancing reach, partnering with 28,000 rural distributors and sustaining our diligent market practices. Our brand & distribution strength also reflects in the consistent market share gains over the last 10 years.”
He further said the company supported its brands and innovations with the requisite investments in the digital and mass media space. “We further expanded the portfolio of a few of our adjacent categories, including milk shakes (in aseptic PET bottles) and croissants,” Berry said.
During the quarter, Britannia commercialised two biscuit greenfield units, in line with its strategy to make in-house its range of products and further enhance productivity.
The company also scaled-up the capacity of its drinks and other dairy lines to better leverage seasonal opportunities and enhance supplies to the bakery division for captive consumption.
More From This Section
“On the cost & profitability front, input prices softened on the back of a correction in palm oil & packaging materials, while flour continued to trend higher. Our intensified cost-efficiency programme, coupled with moderation in commodity inflation led to a healthy operating margin in this quarter,” Berry said.
“We are being vigilant of the competitive actions in the marketplace and closely monitoring the commodity situation in the country, especially around wheat and sugar. We shall deploy appropriate pricing actions to remain competitive and drive market share growth,” he said.
In FY23, its consolidated sales were up 15 per cent to Rs 15,985 crore and net profit was up 46 per cent to Rs 3,033 crore.
Its net profit for the year included an exceptional gain (net of tax) of Rs 359 crore, pursuant to a joint venture agreement with Bel SA for the cheese business and the consequent sale of 49 per cent equity stake in its subsidiary and fair valuation of the residual stake of 51 per cent. During the conference call with analysts, Berry said volume growth during the year was “very small”.
He also told analysts that the company has started to initiate some price cuts and added that the company may take further pricing action going ahead, as well.
“We might have to make a few changes to pricing in certain brands and certain packs. So, we don't want to become margin hungry and not continue our march on revenue growth, volume growth and market share growth,” he added.
