Aditya Birla Nuvo Q1 net up 70% at Rs 253 cr

Aditya Birla Nuvo Limited (ABNL) today said it has reported a growth of 70% to Rs 253 crore in the first quarter ended June 30,2011.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 149 crore in the same period last year.

The company's revenue also grew by 24% from Rs 3,857 crore to Rs 4,767 crore.

"Aditya Birla Nuvo continued its profitable growth journey having strengthened market positioning and delivered robust growth across its businesses.

We remain focused to capture opportunities across the businesses to achieve the next higher level of growth," ABNL managing director Rakesh Jain said in a statement here.

Aditya Birla Financial Services (ABFS) has strengthened its position as a significant non-bank financial services player, it said. During the quarter, ABFS posted consolidated revenue at Rs 1,330 crore, a growth of 4% over the previous year.

Earnings before tax grew 2.5 times from Rs 78 crore to Rs 177 crore. Its combined Assets under Management (AUM) stood at Rs 92,259 crore (about $20.5 billion).

The closing book size of Aditya Birla Finance (ABFL), the NBFC arm, rose year-on-year by 77% to around Rs 1,975 crore. Revenue more than doubled to Rs 60 crore in line with growth in book size. Earnings before tax at Rs 10 crore remained flat due to increase in the cost of funds, it said.

Aditya Birla Private Equity (ABPE) is targeting the first closure of "Sunrise Fund" - its 2nd private equity fund in August 2011, the company said.

The company's telecom arm Idea's net profit de-grew from Rs 201 crore to Rs 177 crore in Q1 FY12. With the introduction of 3G services, additional expenses of amortisation of 3G spectrum fee (Rs 66 crore) and charging of related interest cost (Rs 123 crore) has impacted profits, the company said.

Idea posted 32% year on year growth in total minutes on the network drove earnings growth, absorbing about 6% decline in average revenue per minute.

Its fashion & lifestyle arm, Madura Fashion & Lifestyle, the largest premium branded apparel player in India, achieved a robust 39% year on year growth in revenue at Rs 484 crore. Madura posted a strong 39% volume growth despite the rise in apparel prices.

Apparel prices were increased to pass on rise in cotton prices and levy of excise duty. Its EBITDA grew by 27% to Rs 24 crore in Q1 FY12.

In the textiles business, strong volume growth in the linen segment and improved realisation across all the segments augmented earnings growth. A 32% volume growth and higher power sales in the carbon black business also contributed to the growth.

Higher urea and agri-input sales in the agri-business supported earnings growth. In first quarter of the previous year, the urea plant was under an annual maintenance shut-down for 21 days.

In the rayon and insulators businesses, higher input and fuel costs were partly set off by increase in realisation, the company said.