Britannia Industries June quarter profit jumps 13.2% to Rs219.15 crore

Hyderabad: Biscuit maker Britannia Industries Ltd beat analysts’ estimates to report a 13.2% jump in net profit to ₹ 219.15 crore in the fiscal first quarter on Monday.

The maker of Good Day, Tiger and Little Hearts biscuits launched three new products in this quarter, which helped increase its quarterly revenue by 9% to ₹ 2,196.62 crore.

Britannia introduced Good Day Nuts cookies, NutriChoice Oat cookies and Biscotti during the April-June period.

“We intend to drive consumer offtake and strengthen our momentum through re-stage of our brands and plugging our product portfolio gaps going forward,” Varun Berry, managing director of Britannia, said in a results statement.

A Bloomberg poll of 17 analysts had forecast net profit of ₹ 204.90 crore while a poll of 18 analysts estimated net sales of ₹ 2,169.80 crore.

With commodity prices firming up over the past two quarters, the company is initiating steps to cushion the impact by hiking prices of its offerings and checking costs.

Material costs for the company increased by 12.4% to ₹ 1,129.60 crore in the latest quarter from ₹ 1,004.78 crore a year ago.

“We continue to outpace the market with our go-to-market strategy of creating a robust distribution network with unrelenting focus on rural markets and our weak states,” Berry added.

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Category growth remained subdued during the quarter, but the company is hoping a good monsoon and pay and pension raises recommended by the Seventh Pay Commission will boost consumption and turn the tide in its favour.

The deteriorating geopolitical situation and currency fluctuations in geographies such as West Asia and Africa have also impacted Britannia’s growth, Berry said.

The company distributes its products in about 75 countries, with West Asia accounting for a bulk of international sales.

Parts of West Asia such as Iraq and Syria are engulfed in a prolonged conflict.

Britannia shares rose 9.38% to ₹ 3,152.05 on BSE on a day the benchmark Sensex gained 0.37% to close at 28,182.57 points.