Raymond Q3 Results: Profit Down 4.4 pc to Rs 97 cr

Raymond Ltd reported a decline of 4.42 percent in its December quarter net profit at Rs 96.60 crore, mainly because of a one-time tax hit. Raymond said in a regulatory filing that the company had posted a net profit of Rs 101.07 crore during the October-December period of the previous fiscal. Its revenue from operations rose 17.61 percent 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 had recorded the “highest-ever revenues in a quarter”. Total expenses were at Rs 1,977.28 crore, up 17.34 percent from Rs 1,685.03 crore earlier. Raymond had exercised the option of the lower corporate tax rate, resulting 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.

Hari Singhania Gautam, Chairman and MD, Raymond said, “Raymond continues to leverage the buoyancy in domestic markets as the festivities added to the fervor 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 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 optimization,” the filing said.