Covid pulls down Crompton Greaves Q1 profit by 39%

New Delhi, July 24 (IANS) Consumer appliance company Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals Ltd reported 38.9 per cent fall in its net profit for the April-June quarter as the Covid-19 pandemic shrunk demand and slowed sales.

The company reported a net profit of Rs 74.80 crore in Q1 of FY21, falling from Rs 122.44 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal.

The company’s total income also almost halved to Rs 738.68 crore in the first quarter from Rs 1,364.14 crore in the April-June period of financial year 2019-20.

The company, however, said that worst may be over even during the quarter under review, sales improved sequentially.

“Strong cost reduction measures secured margins in spite of Covid-19 impact. Recovery started in May and continued in June across all product groups,” the company said in a statement.

In June, the company’s sales almost reached 90 per cent of the previous years levels with substantial progress witnessed in the lighting business.

“Business confidence picked up in May and the revival gathered pace in June across all product categories. The Company’s robust cost management and operational efficiency programmes aided in improving margins sequentially,” said Managing Director, Shantanu Khosla.

“However, Covid-19 had a significant adverse impact on the company’s volumes because of lockdowns. Even as the gradual unlocking continues, fresh restrictions and temporary lockdowns imposed in select cities, extend the tenure of uncertainty. Thus, it would be premature to say that the problems are completely behind us. Cash conversion recorded significant improvement supported by actions on driving collections and working capital management. Margin resilience and robustness of the cash conversion cycle were key highlights of this quarter’s performance,” he added.

–IANS

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