Britannia Industries on Friday reported an over two-fold increase in consolidated profit at Rs 542.68 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2020, on account of higher income.

The company had posted a profit of Rs 248.64 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

Total income during the period under review stood at Rs 3,514.35 crore, up 26.97 per cent, against Rs 2,767.8 crore in the year-ago quarter, Britannia Industries said in a regulatory filing.

Britannia Industries managing director Varun Berry said: “The quarter posed an uphill task for the economy in the wake of Covid-19 and caused significant disruptions due to the lockdowns imposed to curtail its spread. Factories, depots, transport and vendors across the supply chain were impacted.”

As soon as the lockdown was eased, he said the company focussed on getting distribution back to the pre-Covid-19 levels and increasing its rural and hinterland reach.

“On the cost front, we witnessed moderate inflation in the prices of key raw materials and expect the prices to be stable going forward given the positive outlook on monsoon and harvest,” he said.

Berry stated that given the dynamic nature of the pandemic and the associated uncertainty, the company was quick to resort to cost efficiencies through extraction of supply chain efficiencies, reduction in wastages and fixed costs leverage.

“We also rationalised media spends considering the constraints of inventories due to higher market demand,” he said, adding that the company was studying the impact of Covid-19 on short-term and long-term changes in consumer preferences, distribution models and was confident of overcoming the challenges.

Shares of Britannia closed 1.81 per cent lower at Rs 3,784.10 apiece on the BSE.