Britannia Industries, the Bengaluru-headquartered biscuit maker, reported a 9.6 per cent decline in consolidated profit after tax, totalling ₹531.45 crore for the quarter ending September 30, down from ₹587.59 crore in the same period last year. The decline was caused by severe commodity inflation and muted demand, said the company.

The revenue from operations reached ₹4,667.57 crore in the second quarter (₹4,432.88 crore), up 5.29 per cent.

RM prices up

While volume grew 8 per cent, the company mitigated the steep rise in prices of essential goods such as wheat, palm oil and cocoa by implementing focused pricing actions and identifying new levers for cost optimisation across the value chain, said Varun Berry, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director.

Additionally, the company’s adjacent businesses, such as croissants, milkshakes, wafers and international operations, are growing at a healthy pace, he added. “Britannia is redefining its distribution strategy to optimise range distribution and improve outlet servicing. “The results of our pilots across 25 cities, covering more than 50,000 outlets, are encouraging,” he said.

Besides, the company announced in an exchange filing the appointment of Jehangir Nusli Wadia as an additional non-executive, non-independent director, effective November 11. Prior to this, Wadia served as the Director of Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation from 2001 to 2011.

The shares of Britannia closed at ₹5,404.95, down 5.95 per cent on the BSE.