Century Textiles reports 78% jump in net income at Rs 63 crore in Q1

AV Birla group firm Century Textiles and Industries on Monday reported a 78 per cent jump in net income at Rs 63 crore driven by robust sales in the first quarter.

The company, which is primarily into textiles, pulp and paper products and realty, said its sales grew to Rs 1,170 crore, a growth of 41 per cent compared to the year-ago period.

The company's Managing Director J C Laddha attributed the strong numbers to the high operational efficiency and improved market demand.

The pulp and paper business has performed exceptionally well during the reporting quarter, especially with increased demand in the paper and tissue segment, he said.

The textiles business saw impressive growth, mainly supported by good demand for fabrics for apparel while the realty business was driven by strong consumer confidence and improved demand for quality residential units, he said.

The pulp and paper business saw sales increasing 49 per cent to Rs 857 crore. This was on the back of the better capacity utilisation which touched 97 per cent leading to a production increase of paper and tissue segments by 17 per cent and 14 per cent, respectively, on a year-on-year basis.

The realty business booked Rs 434 crore in sales with significant contribution from the Birla Niyaara project in Worli in the megapolis. This signature project of the company has so far achieved cumulative sales of about Rs 1,600 crore, Laddha said.

The turnover from the textiles vertical increased 31 per cent to Rs 268 crore on the back of higher capacity utilisation at 96 per cent.

The company's stock fell 1.45 per cent to Rs 801 on the BSE while the benchmark slipped 0.55 per cent after six days of gains.