Jyothy Laboratories, the maker of Ujala fabric whitener, has reported a 25.68 per cent jump in net profit to Rs 17.62 crore for the first quarter ended June 30 against Rs 14.02 crore in the year-ago period.
Net sales for the quarter rose 70.63 per cent to Rs 209.86 crore from Rs 122.99 crore reported in the same period last fiscal. “We are on the right path of growth. The merger of Henkel India Ltd with Jyothy is one such step. The integration is almost complete. Mr S. Raghunandan, our new CEO is putting in an experienced management team to achieve well designed growth,” said Mr M.P. Ramachandran, Managing Director.
The company's operating EBIDTA margin for the quarter improved to 11.87 per cent against 8.84 per cent last fiscal. The soaps and detergents business grew 64.26 per cent to Rs 150.15 crore during the quarter compared with Rs 91.41 crore during the corresponding period.
Its flagship brand Ujala fabric whitener is the market leader with a market share of 73.3 per cent. Home care saw increase in revenues for the quarter by 89.02 per cent to Rs 59.37 crore against Rs 31.41 crore during the same period last year.
“All the FMCG companies, including Jyothy, are seeing strong growth despite the economic slowdown. This shows that consumption in both rural and urban market is picking up. We do not see any risk to growth. As far as Jyothy is concerned, the company is expected to maintain a full year growth at 25 per cent,” said Mr Anand Mour, Research Analyst at Ambit Capital.
EPS stood at Rs 2.19 against Rs 1.74 in the year-ago period.