Raymond Ltd on Wednesday reported a decline of 4.42 per cent in its December quarter net profit at Rs 96.60 crore, mainly on account of a one-time tax hit. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 101.07 crore during the October-December period of the previous fiscal, Raymond said in a regulatory filing. Its revenue from operations rose 17.61 per cent to Rs 2,168.16 crore during the quarter under review, as against Rs 1,843.39 crore in the year-ago period.
According to Raymond, it has recorded the “highest-ever revenues in a quarter”. Total expenses were at Rs 1,977.28 crore, up 17.34 per cent from Rs 1,685.03 crore earlier. Raymond has exercised the option of lower corporate tax rate which has resulted in a one-time net impact of Rs 73.5 crore in the profit and loss account, the company said in its earning statement. Its EBITDA (pre-tax profit) was at Rs 351 crore in the third quarter of FY23.
The company’s Chairman and Managing Director Gautam Hari Singhania said, “Raymond continues to leverage the buoyancy in domestic markets as the festivities added to the fervour of good consumer demand leading to delivering highest-ever revenues in a quarter.” This was the fifth straight quarter where Raymond registered strong performance and overall generated free cash flows to further deleverage the balance sheet to below Rs 1,000 crore of net debt levels, he added.
“The Net Debt has reduced to Rs 932 crore as on December 31, 2022 as compared to Rs 1,286 crore as on September 30, 2022, through free-cash-flow generation driven by strong profitability and working capital optimisation,” the filing said. Shares of Raymond Ltd on Wednesday settled at Rs 1,376.70 on BSE, down 10.11 per cent from the previous close.
