Britannia Industries profit before tax rises 1.6% to Rs 457 crore

Britannia Industries on Tuesday reported largely in-line numbers for the fourth quarter (Q4FY20) of the last financial year, despite the lockdown hitting revenue and profit growth by 7-10 per cent.
 
The FMCG major said that after the initial hiccups, the firm coped up well and witnessed 20 per cent rise in revenues in April, and 28 per cent in May — both year-on-year (YoY) — aided by several measures.
 
Profit before tax (PBT) stood at Rs 457.27 per cent for Q4 — a marginal rise of 1.6 per cent YoY. However, consolidated net profit rose 26.5 per cent to Rs 372.35 crore from Rs 294.27 crore helped by a lower tax outgo, with the firm migrating to the new tax regime. Sequentially, it remained flat during this period. Revenue rose 2.9 per cent to Rs 2,946 crore, against Rs 2,861 crore last year. Sequentially, however, it declined by 3.3 per cent.

 
“After nine months of moderate growth, we started seeing a revival in the first two months of this quarter, which was then hit by the pandemic. The lockdown affected revenue and net profit growth by 7-10 per cent. During this period, we continued to gain market share through our focus on distribution, diligence in marketplace, and brand-building through focussed product campaigns,” said Varun Berry, managing director of Britannia. He said the firm witnessed moderate inflation in key raw material prices for the bakery business. “Our drive on cost efficiency, reduction in wastage, and ability to leverage fixed costs helped record a 40-bp rise in operating profit,” said Berry.

For the entire FY20, consolidated net profit rose 21 per cent to Rs 1,394 crore, compared to Rs 1,155 crore in FY19. Profit before tax (PBT) rose 4.3 per cent at Rs 1,844 crore YoY. Consolidated revenues increased 5.4 per cent to Rs 11,879 crore, in the last financial year.
 
As regards the impact of the pandemic on operations, Britannia said the firm swiftly adopted to the changing landscape. “While we faced some challenges in the first month of the lockdown, we recovered quickly and progressively liaised with the government to get approvals for operating all our factories and depots,” it said.
 
 
Britannia added that it was ramping up production despite labour shortage, besides optimising its production planning. “We are taking up several cost-reduction initiatives to manage the additional costs triggered by the crisis,” the firm added.
 
 
The Britannia board also approved the granting of 250,000 stock options to the Managing Director (Berry), the firm said in a separate filing.