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Battery maker Eveready Industries has reported a 157 per cent jump in net profit for the quarter ended June 30 at ₹10.24 crore.
Operating income grew 15.72 per cent to ₹323.58 crore, while operating EBITDA rose 36.54 per cent to ₹33.18 crore.
“The outlook appears to be stable. However, the delay in the monsoon and hardening of metal (zinc) prices may offset partially the margin expansion of the current quarter,” the company said in a statement.
The company, which does not have any capital expenditure plan for this year, expects to reduce its debt by around ₹60 crore. Last fiscal, it cut the debt by ₹51 crore, bringing it down to ₹225 crore.
“We are confident that the operational cash flow could reduce the debt burden, which would in turn reduce the finance cost and improve credit rating for the company. We are not considering any asset sale to reduce debt”, Amritanshu Khaitan, Managing Director, told reporters after the company’s annual general meeting here on Friday.
During the past 18 months, Eveready increased battery prices by around 20 per cent. This has improved profit margins.
“In July also, we hiked price by 5 per cent for the AAA batteries. However, in the next six months, we do not intend to raise prices unless the cost structure goes haywire,” Khaitan said.
The company had raised prices by 3 to 8 per cent across the battery categories in the first quarter, Khaitan told BusinessLine .
He said in the past three months, the price of zinc, a key raw material, has gone up by around 15 per cent.
“However, a stable rupee (zinc is bought on import parity price) has been giving us some breathing space of late.”
On Friday, the Eveready stock moved up 2.46 per cent on the BSE to close at ₹85.25.
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