India's largest branded fabrics and fashion retailer Raymond Ltd posted 162 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 56 crore during January-March quarter as compared to Rs 21 crore in the year-ago quarter.
The rise in profit is mainly on the back of higher sales in the textile and branded apparel businesses and better cost efficiency.
The 90-year-old textile manufacturer, which is currently focusing more on the branded apparels and fashion retail for its next level of growth, had also achieved better cost efficiency in manufacturing through adoption of modern technologies and optimum capacity utilization. Raymond's textile and apparel businesses posted 7 per cent and 15 per cent respectively during the quarter.
The increased profitability in the apparel business during this quarter was despite additional investments for the expansion of its retail network, the company said in a release on Tuesday (April 26). While, the sales in its Denim and the unrelated engineering businesses declined during the quarter due to slow down and currency volatility in the export markets.
"The year 2015-16 was challenging due to subdued consumer sentiments and difficult global economic environment. However, we ended the year on a positive note driven by good growth in revenue and profitability, especially in the lifestyle business," said chairman and managing director Gautam Hari Singhania on Tuesday.
Raymond's net profit for the fully year was down 18 per cent to Rs 92 crore as compared to the previous year's Rs 113 crore, although the over all revenue at Rs 5702 crore grew 5 per cent this year as against Rs 5428 crore in 2014-15.
BW Reporters
Unnikrishnan is currently Senior Associate Editor with BW Businessworld at its Mumbai Bureau. During his two decades long journalistic career, he has received several media awards and recognitions. His articles on healthcare, life sciences and intellectual property rights (IPR) have been republished by several international blogs and journals.
