Britannia Q4 Net Profit Up 26% at Rs 372 Crore

FMCG player Britannia Industries posted a 26.53 per cent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 372.35 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2020.

The company had reported a net profit of Rs 294.27 crore in January-March quarter of 2018-19.

Total revenue from operations rose to Rs 2,867.70 crore during the quarter under review as compared with Rs 2,798.96 crore in the fourth quarter of 2018-19, Britannia Industries said in a regulatory filing.

For fiscal 2019-20, the company posted a net profit of Rs 1,393.60 crore, up 20.6 per cent from Rs 1,155.46 crore in 2018-19.

Total revenue from operations during the financial year ended March 31, 2020 rose to Rs 11,599.55 crore as against Rs 11,054.67 crore in 2018-19.

"After nine months of moderate growth, we started to see growth coming back in the first two months of this quarter which was then hit by COVID-19 and lockdown in March, impacting the revenue and net profit growths by an estimated 7-10 per cent," Britannia Industries MD Varun Berry said.

In this period, the company continued to garner market share through focus on building blocks of distribution, diligence in marketplace and brand building through focussed product campaigns, he added.

"On the cost front, we witnessed moderate inflation in the prices of key raw materials for the bakery business. Commodity prices at global level too witnessed a moderation due to low demand on account of lockdown in most parts of the world," Berry said.

The company's drive on cost efficiencies, reduction in wastages and ability to leverage fixed costs helped it improve the shape of business and record a 40 basis points increase in operating profit during the quarter despite the COVID-19 pandemic, he added.