Eveready Industries India Ltd intends to maintain the pace of topline growth, witnessed in FY23 after many years of stagnation, with adequate profitability in this fiscal as the dry cell battery maker completed the first year under the Burman family ownership.

The company will focus on three core areas of operations — battery, flashlight and lighting — in FY24 backed by heightened promotional activities and advertising spends. It also hopes to achieve expansion in profit margin with focus on premiumisation and a new route to market strategy.

Eveready achieved a growth of 10 per cent over the previous year in its topline. The growth was 14 per cent if the discontinued business of appliances is considered. Total income from operations was Rs 1,327.7 crore in FY23 compared with Rs 1,206.8 crore in FY22.

However, profit after tax slumped 57.7 per cent to Rs 20.1 crore from Rs 47.5 crore a year ago. “While the growth was much cherished, it came accompanied with a slight dip in the EBIDTA at 8.3 per cent of operating revenues as compared to 10 per cent in the previous financial year,” Suvamoy Saha, managing director of Eveready, told the shareholders at the annual general meeting of the company.

Saha attributed the dip to adverse foreign exchange rate movements, high inflation in key raw materials, increased spend in advertising and promotions and costs incurred on consulting advice taken by the company.

Many shareholders sought to know how the Burman family, the promoter of Dabur India, wanted to steer Eveready forward, having taken control of India’s largest dry cell battery maker in 2022 from the Khaitans of Calcutta.

While Anand C. Burman, non-executive chairman of Eveready and Mohit Burman, a director on the board participated in the meeting, it was Saha who responded to the shareholders’ posers.

The MD said there are enough opportunities in the existing businesses which would keep the management busy for the next 18 months.

“We would like to grow at a similar speed as last year but we would like to ensure that this growth is backed with adequate profitability.

“We did take some hits in the previous year and we expect that we should be able to exceed our profitability percentages that we recorded in the previous year,” Saha informed.