Eveready Industries report 77% drop in Q3 profit on higher costs

Eveready Industries reported a 77% fall in third-quarter profit on Tuesday, as the Indian battery manufacturer battled high costs of raw material as well as climbing advertising and promotion costs

BENGALURU (Reuters) - Eveready Industries Ltd reported a 77% fall in third-quarter profit on Tuesday, as the Indian battery manufacturer battled high costs of raw material as well as climbing advertising and promotion costs.

Consolidated net profit fell to 54.4 million rupees ($657,687.94) for the three months ended Dec. 31, compared to 237.1 million rupees a year earlier.

"Profitability during the quarter was impacted by adverse movement in foreign exchange rates as well as continued high inflation in key raw materials, apart from higher charges in advertising and promotion spends," Eveready said in a statement.

Quarterly expenses rose about 7% to 3.23 billion rupees, as the cost of materials consumed jumped about 27% from a year earlier.

Battery makers globally wrestled with high costs of raw materials in the October-December quarter although prices of certain commodities such as lithium and cobalt began easing by quarter-end.

Revenue from operations rose about 1% to 3.30 billion rupees, marking its slowest growth in three quarters.

Shares of Eveready, which rose around 24% in 2022, closed marginally higher at 327.10 rupees on Tuesday.

($1 = 82.7140 Indian rupees)

 

(Reporting by Navamya Ganesh Acharya in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)