Eveready Industries posts multi-fold dip in Q3 net to Rs 19.71 lakh

Batteries and flashlights maker Eveready Industries Thursday reported a multi-fold decline in standalone net profit to Rs 19.71 lakh in the third quarter ended December 31, hit by cost of separation workers at Chennai plant.

The company had posted standlone net profit of Rs 20.94 crore in the same quarter last fiscal, Eveready Industries said in a regulatory filing.

Total income during the period under review stood at Rs 387.81 crore as against Rs 373.8 crore in the year-ago quarter, it added.

Eveready Industries said it incurred Rs 23.21 crore in the voluntary retirement scheme for workmen (VRS) at its manufacturing facility at Tiruvottiyur, in Chennai.

The VRS was completed during the quarter and after its completion the company had in December agreed to sell the land to Alwarpet Properties Pvt Ltd for Rs 100 crore.

The company said it has received Rs 25 crore during the quarter, as per payment terms of the sale agreement.

The recurring annualised savings following the VRS is around Rs 15 crore, it added.

During the third quarter, the company said its battery volume grew by 6.2 per cent.

"This growth seems to be a heartening turnaround in context of some signs of slow-down in dumped imports from China...," it said.

The turnover for lighting segment for the quarter stood at Rs 88.1 crore, down around 11 per cent, partially due to supply constraints as well as unit price decrease in bulbs, it said.