Emami has recorded a 97 per cent growth in profit after tax on the back of a 37 per cent rise in revenue in the first quarter of this fiscal over a lower base in the same period last year despite the disruptions in the marketplace because of the second wave of Covid-19.

Even though revenue and profit decelerated sequentially from the fourth quarter of the last fiscal, the headline and bottomline performances are better than the pre-pandemic first quarter of 2019-20.

Revenue from operations stood at Rs 660.95 crore in the April-June quarter of this fiscal compared with Rs 481.34 crore recorded in the same period of last fiscal. Profit after tax stood at Rs 77.79 crore during the quarter under review compared with Rs 39.58 crore in the first quarter of of 2020-21.

Revenue and profit were at Rs 730.76 crore and Rs 87.73 crore, respectively, in the fourth quarter of the previous fiscal.

While domestic business grew 42 per cent over the previous year, it grew 5 per cent over the first quarter of 2019-20 despite the raging impact of the second wave. Further, all major brands grew handsomely by more than 50 per cent during the quarter, except Navratna which posted a growth of 21 per cent.

Modern trade grew 63 per cent and e-commerce continued its robust run growing 3.7 times.

Mohan Goenka, director of Emami, said, “The overall demand since early June has once again been showing improvement with the Covid positivity rates dropping to pre-second wave levels.”

Harsh Agarwal, director of Emami, said: “We recognise that e-commerce today has become the channel of choice for many which led us to launching our exclusive e-commerce business, Zanducare.”

In the first quarter, contribution of e-commerce rose 300 basis points to 5 per cent of domestic revenues.

Emami’s international business grew 17 per cent. Except the Middle Eastern geographies, all other regions posted strong growth during the quarter.

While revenue and profit grew by 2 per cent and 98 per cent over the Q1 of 2019-20, they fell over the January-March of 2020-21. Revenue and profit were at Rs 730.76 crore and Rs 87.73 crore in Q4 of last year, representing 9.5 per cent and 11 per cent dip over the last quarter.

While the initial weeks of April witnessed sustained growth momentum, subsequent increase in COVID cases led to a challenging phase over the month of May. While personal care products were impacted, demand for health and hygiene products was also muted compared to the first wave phase, Emami admitted.