Madura Fashion & Lifestyle revenues up in Q1 - ABNL

For the quarter ended 30 June 2012, ABNL has posted a year on year growth of 11 per cent in revenue at Rs.5,323 crore. EBITDA rose by 14 per cent to Rs. 915 crore and net profit is up by 5 per cent at Rs. 267 crore.

Fashion & Lifestyle:

Revenue of Madura Fashion & Lifestyle grew by 8 per cent to Rs.524 crore. Expansion of stores led to 18 per cent sales growth in the retail channel which stands expanded to 1,167 EBOs across 1.7 million square feet.

EBITDA at Rs.22 crore was flat year on year. Moderation in sales growth, during the seasonally subdued first quarter, led to lower absorption of rentals and other fixed costs.

ABNL, through its subsidiary Peter England Fashions & Retail Ltd., has invested Rs.800 crore through Optionally Fully Convertible Debentures in Pantaloon Retail India Ltd. (PRIL) during June 2012. The due diligence is in progress and the demerger scheme will be filed by ABNL and PRIL shortly.

Manufacturing:

The revenue is up year on year by 8 per cent at Rs.1,503 crore while EBITDA is lower by 8 per cent at Rs.190 crore. Textiles and Rayon businesses posted their highest ever quarterly earnings. Sales volume and profitability in the Carbon Black and Insulators businesses were affected year on year due to dumping from China. Maintenance shutdown in the Agri-business for 20 days, planned during the quarter, constrained urea sales volume and profitability.

Going forward, ABNL’s thrust is on capturing growth opportunities across its businesses to achieve the next higher level of growth.

Management Comments

Commenting on the results, Dr. Rakesh Jain, Managing Director said, “While industry growth has moderated in few of the sectors where ABNL operates, the Company continues to outperform in most of its businesses.”

Mr. Sushil Agarwal, Whole Time Director and CFO emphasized that, “Despite the planned maintenance shutdown in the agri-business and the impact of dumping from China in the Carbon Black and Insulators businesses, ABNL has achieved sound growth in the consolidated earnings.”

Aditya Birla Nuvo is a USD 4.5 billion conglomerate. Over the years, it has made successful ventures into the sunrise sectors viz., Financial Services (Life Insurance, Asset Management, NBFC, Private Equity, Broking, Wealth Management and general insurance advisory), Telecom, Fashion & Lifestyle and IT-ITeS.

Aditya Birla Nuvo Limited (ABNL)