Himatsingka net back in black

Cost optimisation and the lack of derivative impact has helped Himatsingka Seide, the Bangalore-headquartered woven silk and home furnishings manufacturer and exporter, get back into the black. The company reported a net profit of Rs 5.22 crore for the third quarter-ended on December 31, 2009, as against a loss of Rs 32.95 crore during the corresponding period of last year.

Net sales of the company declined 0.52 per cent to Rs 286.68 crore for the quarter. The company has managed to bring down its employee cost 5.84 per cent and other expenditure by 4.07 per cent this quarter. It has also credited realisation from a better product mix for the net profit. However, there was an increased expenditure of 18 per cent on raw materials this quarter. Operating profit of the company was up over one and half times at Rs 15.10 crore compared to the corresponding quarter in the previous year.

Shrikant Himatsingka, executive director, Himatsingka Seide said, “The performance of the manufacturing and distribution divisions have continued to show improvement during the quarter. While critical input costs have increased, cost optimisation initiatives have ensured a substantial improvement in operating profits for the quarter.”