Radico Khaitan reports 21 pc jump in Q1 net revenue at Rs 624 crore

Radico Khaitan, one of the largest spirits companies in the country, on Thursday reported 20.8 per cent jump in its net revenue from operations at Rs 624 crore during April to June compared to Rs 516 crore in Q1 FY19.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) stood at Rs 98.94 crore, up by 9.3 per cent from Rs 90.56 crore in the year-ago period as the interest costs came down from Rs 10.96 crore to Rs 7.38 crore.

The growth was driven by a strong prestige and above category volume growth of 16 per cent, said company's Managing Director Abhishek Khaitan.

"Over the last few quarters, we have seen significant raw material price pressure. But with the ongoing price increases and premiumisation, we are confident of sustaining our profitability margins during the year," he told ANI over a conference call.

"While our existing brands such as 8PM whisky, Magic Moments vodka and Morpheus super-premium brandy continued to perform well, the recently launched 8PM Premium Black whisky and 1965 premium rum made increasingly meaningful contribution," said Khaitan.

Significantly, Radico's gross revenue from operations moved up 26.6 per cent to Rs 2,677 crore in Q1 FY20 from Rs 2,115 crore in the same period of previous fiscal. The gross profit rose 12.6 per cent to Rs 295 crore from Rs 262 crore in Q1 FY19.

Despite an overall slowdown in the economy, the company delivered strong growth across all key brands and geographic regions. "In the short-term, we have faced raw material price pressure. But that does not impact our long-term growth and margin trajectory," said Chairman and Managing Director Lalit Khaitan.

"We remain focused on investing in our core premium brand portfolio which will enable us to deliver long-term sustainable value creation for all stakeholders," he said.

Radico reported total Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) volume of 6.25 million cases in Q1 FY20, up 12 per cent from 5.59 million cases in Q1 FY19. Of these, prestige and above brands had a volume of 1.99 million cases compared to 1.71 million cases in the year-on period, contributing 31.8 per cent to total IMFL volumes compared to 30.7 per cent last year.

The company has three distilleries at Rampur in Uttar Pradesh and one at Aurangabad in Maharashtra which is a 36 per cent joint venture. It has a total owned capacity of 157 million litres and operates 28 bottling units (5 owned and 23 contracted) spread across the country.