Eveready Industries returned to profit in the first quarter of the fiscal and the turn in the tide of the dry cell battery maker coincided with the new owners firmly taking control. The company clocked Rs 21.85 crore profit in the April-June period against a loss of Rs 38.41 crore in the preceding quarter, while total income sharply rose from the previous quarter.
The results were finalised on Monday in a board meeting attended for the first time by the nominees of the Burman family of Dabur, the new promoters of Eveready. The board also formally designated Anand Chand Burman as the new chairman (non-executive) of Eveready. A member of the fifth generation of Dabur promoters, who was the chairman of the Delhi-based FMCG company from 2007-2019, he joined the meeting via video conference.
The other two nominees, Mohit Burman and Arjun Lamba, came down to Calcutta, along with Sunil Alagh, the former Britannia managing director, who joined as an independent director in Eveready. The post of the chairman had fallen vacant after Aditya Khaitan stepped down soon after the Burmans announced an open offer and expressed their intent to take control of Eveready.
After the completion of the offer, the Burmans made it to the board as non-executive members, and identified themselves as promoters. They now own 38.3 per cent compared with 4.84 per cent by the Khaitans, the old promoters. Focus on growth While profit after tax (PAT) was down 27 per cent year-onyear from Rs 30.13 crore, it was a solid bounce back from the preceding quarter when the high input cost hurled the battery maker into losses.
Total income at Rs 335.8 crore was 19 per cent higher than Rs 282 crore in Q1 2022 and up 38 per cent over Rs 242.15 crore in Q4 2022. Despite inflationary conditions driven slow down, it managed to grow topline by volume gains. Suvamoy Saha, managing director of Eveready, expressed his satisfaction at starting the fiscal on a positive note. “With some structural improvements, I believe we are well poised to create new standards across all our segments of business,” Saha said.
The company said its focus will be on diversifying the product range in the lighting and flashlights segment. The lighting segment, dominated by three to four established players, is estimated to be Rs11,000 crore a year. Eveready is targeting a 10per cent market share in two years in this segment. It earns about Rs 250 crore from lighting now. Flashlights will also be a key focus for the company. The Rs 1,000 crore segment is dominated by unbranded and Chinese products.