Century Textiles and Industries has reported that its net profit in the March quarter was down 44 per cent to ₹80 crore against ₹142 crore logged in the same period last year, due to Covid-19 outbreak suppressing demand across businesses including textile, pulp, paper and real estate.

Income was down 21 per cent at ₹801 crore (₹1,012 crore).

The company had declared a dividend of ₹3 per share.

The pulp and paper business, which contributes the maximum to the company’s revenue, saw its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) drop by 29 per cent (excluding one-time item of ₹128 crore logged in the same period last year).

Drop in sales at the end of the year, due to the lockdown, and dip in realisations hit the business hard.

Sales volume decreased by 4 per cent to 4.15 lakh tonnes, against 4.34 lakh tonnes, primarily due to no dispatches during the last nine days of March.

However, paper export volumes increased by 35 per cent to 43,251 tonnes while that of the boards vertical increased by 165 per cent to 22,341 tonnes.

JC Laddha, Managing Director, Century Textiles and Industries, said the Covid-19 pandemic affected all the businesses in March, impacting the overall revenue adversely.

Health and hygiene demand

However, the textile business has launched a new ‘health and hygiene’ line of products. The pulp and paper business has an opportunity to accelerate its growth in the tissue (hygiene-related segment) and packaging board (in pharma and FMCG segment) verticals to keep up with the rising demand.

Real-estate business has moved forward with a continued focus on customer-centricity with a new online experience, where customers can take a guided tour of a project from the comforts of their homes, Laddha said.

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