Britannia Industries reports 11.28% rise in Q4 net profit

Varun Beverages, a bottling partner of PepsiCo India, has reported 83.73% increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 81.12 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2019. The company had posted a profit of Rs 44.15 crore in the year-ago period.

Varun Beverages’ revenue from operations during the quarter stood at Rs 1,776.85 crore as compared to Rs 1,204.47 crore in July-September 2018. Its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose by 54.2% to Rs 325.66 crore from Rs 211.24 crore.

The company is following the January-December financial year.

Ravi Jaipuria, Chairman of Varun Beverages, said, “Our India business has delivered organic volume growth of 17.5 per cent and our international territories have registered a 27 per cent growth led by exceptional performance in under-penetrated territories acquired in 2017 and early 2018.”

“Moreover, our key markets like Morocco, Zimbabwe, Nepal and Sri Lanka also reported double-digit growth in the current quarter,” he added.

The company has been associated with PepsiCo for more than 27 years, accounting for 80% of the US firm's beverage sales volume in India.

United Breweries Ltd (UBL) posted an all-round performance with double-digit volume growth, higher realizations and increased gross contribution of 60bps along with better managed fixed costs, to deliver a significant increase in profits for the fourth quarter ended March 2019.

All key markets, except for West Bengal, witnessed growth. In West Bengal, there was a large drop in consumption on account of a steep duty hike in January 2018.

Regional performances for the year ended March 2019:

In the North, UBL saw significant volume growth in Rajasthan and Haryana. Delhi volumes were flat and there was a decline in volumes in U.P primarily because of capacity constraints.

In the South, UBL registered double-digit volume growth in all the markets with the exception of Karnataka, where growth was restricted to high single digits.

Growth in the East was driven by Odisha and Jharkhand.

In the West, all the key markets grew in single digits while Rest of Maharashtra grew in double digits on account of the base effect.

In the fourth quarter, volume grew in all markets except West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.

UBL’s growth continues to lead the industry, strengthening its market position.

The good performance generated healthy operating cash flows, which along with better working capital management helped internal funding of Rs 430 crores investments in the business. Lower gross debt helped to reduce interest costs by 34%.

रूचि सोया ने 2018-19 की तीसरी तिमाही के लिए 6.29 करोड़ रुपए का शुद्ध लाभ दर्ज किया है। पिछले वित्त वर्ष की इसी तिमाही में कंपनी ने 1956.59 करोड़ रुपए का शुद्ध घाटा दर्ज किया था। रूचि सोया की कुल आय अक्टूबर-दिसंबर 2018 के दौरान मामूली बढ़कर 3500.07 करोड़ रुपए दर्ज की गई जबकि एक साल पहले की अवधि में यह 3049.94 करोड़ रुपए थी। वित्त लागत पहले के 323.31 करोड़ रुपए से 1.77 करोड़ रुपए कम रही।

दिसंबर 2017 में दिवाला कार्यवाही शुरू होने के बाद, रूचि सोया ने 2017-18 के वित्तीय वर्ष के लिए 345.61 करोड़ रुपए और 2018-19 के नौ महीनों के लिए 1165.89 करोड़ रुपए के देय ब्याज को मान्यता नहीं दी है।

फॉर्च्यून ब्रांड के तहत कूकिंग ऑयल बेचने वाली कंपनी- अडानी विल्मर और बाबा रामदेव की अगुवाई वाली पतंजलि कर्ज में डूबी रूचि सोया का अधिग्रहण करने की तैयारी में हैं। कंपनी पर करीब 12000 करोड़ रूपए का कर्ज है।

रूचि सोया के प्रमुख ब्रांडों में न्यूट्रेला, महाकोश, सनरिच, रूचि स्टार और रूचि गोल्ड शामिल हैं।

Ruchi Soya has posted a net profit of Rs 6.29 crore for the third quarter of the 2018-19 fiscal. In the same quarter of the previous fiscal, the company had reported a net loss of Rs 1,956.59 crore.

Ruchi Soya’s total income grew marginally to Rs 3,500.07 crore during October-December 2018 as compared to Rs 3,049.94 crore in the year-ago period. Finance cost remained lower at Rs 1.77 crore from Rs 323.31 crore earlier.

After commencement of the insolvency proceedings in December 2017, Ruchi Soya has not recognised interest payable worth Rs 345.61 crore for the 2017-18 fiscal and Rs 1,165.89 crore for nine months of the 2018-19.

Adani Wilmar, selling cooking oil under the Fortune brand, and Baba Ramdev-led Patanjali are in the fray to acquire debt-ridden Ruchi Soya. The company has a total debt of about Rs 12,000 crore. 

Ruchi Soya’s leading brands include Nutrela, Mahakosh, Sunrich, Ruchi Star and Ruchi Gold.

Jubilant Foodworks, the operator of Domino's Pizza and Dunkin' Donuts food chain, has reported 46% jump in its net profit at Rs 96.5 crore for the third quarter of the financial year 2018-19 ending December 31, 2018. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 66 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

The revenue of the company rose 17% at Rs 929 crore against Rs 795 crore it posted during the same period last year.

Shyam S. Bhartia, Chairman, and Hari S. Bhartia, Co-Chairman, Jubilant Foodworks, said, "I am delighted to share that we have once again delivered healthy earnings growth during the quarter which stood in-line with our expectations. The performance was driven by consistent progress made across each of the growth pillars."

Pratik Pota, CEO and Whole Time Director of Jubilant FoodWorks, stated, "We have demonstrated strong all-around performance in Q3 FY19, led by robust same-store sales growth (SSSG) of 14.6 percent reported in Domino’s Pizza. This was accompanied by tight control of operating costs that led to EBITDA margins improving to a seven-year high of 18.4 percent."

"In addition, Dunkin’ Donuts also broke even during the quarter, ahead of the targeted Q4 timeline. We are happy with our performance and confident of the prospects ahead, as evident in the 35 new stores opened in Q3, the highest in eleven quarters," he added.

Coffee Day Enterprises has announced a 59.78% fall in consolidated net profit at Rs 23.83 crore for the September quarter due to higher expenses. In the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, the company had reported a net profit of Rs 59.26 crore.

Coffee Day's total income grew by 12.42% at Rs 1,015.13 crore during the quarter under review. Its income stood at Rs 902.9 crore in the corresponding quarter of the year-ago period.

The company's expenses during the quarter stood at Rs 1,014.99 crore, up 13.83%, as against Rs 891.6 crore a year ago. 

Italian chocolate maker Ferrero India has reported a 17% decline in profit and slipped into losses during FY17-18. This is the company's worst performance since it entered India a decade ago. 

Ferrero, the maker of Kinder Joy chocolates and Nutella chocolate-hazelnut spread, has posted revenues of Rs 1538 crore, with net loss of Rs 89.6 crore during the year to March 2018.

Last year, the company had posted sales of Rs 1848 crore with net profit of Rs 21 crore. The sales were impacted due to new taxation policy and reduction in exports. 

Ferrero India's spokesperson said, "The FY 2017-18 was an interesting year as we navigated through the challenges that came with the changes in the taxation policy that had a ripple effect across industries leading to temporary stagnation as the overall business ecosystem adapted to the new policy." 

Nestle India Ltd, the maker of Maggi instant noodles and Kit-Kat chocolates, has reported a 30% increase in net profit to Rs 446 crore in the quarter ended September 30, compared with Rs 343 crore a year earlier.

The company said, "For the quarter under review, revenue from operations grew by 17 per cent to Rs 2,939 crore. Total sales and domestic sales for the quarter increased by 16.8 per cent and 17.5 per cent respectively supported by broad-based volume growth on a base quarter in which GST was implemented."

Suresh Narayanan, Chairman & Managing Director, Nestle India said, "The quarter has witnessed another strong performance from the organisation, as we continue to deliver broad-based volume driven growth." 

"The company has stepped up marketing activities in a bid to strengthen its brands. We are witnessing headwinds in commodity and crude oil prices coupled with currency depreciation," he added.

Recently, Nestle launched Nescafe-E coffee machine, Special Masala variant for Maggi Noodles, and Maggi Dip and Spread.

United Spirits Ltd (USL), India's largest liquor maker, has reported a 69% increase in net profit to Rs 258.7 crore for the quarter ended September 2018 on the back of robust sales.

In the July-September quarter of 2017, the Diageo-controlled firm had posted a net profit of Rs 153.1 crore.

USL said, "The company reported net sales increased 14 per cent delivered through the continued strong performance of the Prestige and Above segment, an improved performance in the popular segment as well as benefitting from lapping the impact of the highway ban in the same period last year." 

Anand Kripalu, CEO of USL, stated, "We have delivered robust gross margin improvement both in the quarter as well as the first half, driven mainly by savings from our productivity programme which more than offset the adverse impact of inflation." 

डेयरी प्रमुख क्वालिटी लिमिटेड ने कहा कि वित्तीय वर्ष 2018-19 की पहली तिमाही के दौरान इसका शुद्ध लाभ 1.04 करोड़ रुपये हो गया है। कम बिक्री के कारण मुनाफे में भारी गिरावट देखी गई है।

अप्रैल-जून, 2017-18 के दौरान, कंपनी का शुद्ध लाभ 27.87 करोड़ रुपये था। शुद्ध आय भी 1,573.18 करोड़ रुपये से, 1,265.78 करोड़ रुपये हो गई है।

वर्तमान में, क्वालिटी को प्राप्ति प्रबंधन के मुद्दे का सामना करना पड़ रहा है।

कंपनी ने कहा, "यह तब शुरू हुआ जब कंपनी अपने ग्राहकों को लिक्विडिटी की कमी के कारण आवश्यक वस्तुओं के साथ सेवा नहीं दे सकी, ऐसी स्थिति मुख्य रूप से तिमाही के अंत में, बैंकिंग भागीदारों से स्वीकृत कार्यशील पूंजी के वितरण के कारण ट्रिगर हुई।"

"वैश्विक बाजार में निरंतर मंदी के मद्देनजर, क्वालिटी ने पूरी तरह से स्वामित्व वाली सहायक" क्वालिटी डेयरी प्रोडक्ट्स एफजेई "के संचालन का चरणबद्ध तरीके से बंद होने का निर्णय लिया है। हालांकि निर्णय से लंबी अवधि में कमाई को अनुकूलित होने की उम्मीद है, कंपनी जिनको अब माल की आपूर्ति नहीं कर रही है, उन पार्टियों को कलेक्शन में देरी का अल्पकालिक प्रभाव पड़ेगा" क्वालिटी ने आगे कहा।

Dairy major Kwality Ltd said that its net profit during the first quarter of the financial year 2018-19 has declined to Rs 1.04 crore. The net profit has seen a steep fall due to poor sales.

During April-June, 2017-18, the company’s net profit stood at Rs 27.87 crore. The net income has also been decreased to Rs 1,265.78 crore from Rs 1,573.18 crore.

Currently, Kwality is facing an issue of receivables management.

The company said, "This started when the company could not service its customers with the required goods due to liquidity crunch, a situation that emerged primarily towards the end of the quarter triggered due to non-disbursement of sanctioned working capital from banking partners."

"In view of the consistent recession in the global market, Kwality has decided to discontinue in a phased manner its operation of the wholly-owned subsidiary "Kwality Dairy Products FZE". While the decision is expected to optimise the earnings on a long-term horizon, it has a short-term impact of delay in the collections from the parties to whom the company is no longer supplying the goods," Kwality further added.

Driven by the double-digit volume growth, FMCG major Britannia Industries has posted 19.41 per cent growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 258.08 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2018. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 216.12 crore in the April-June period a year ago.

 For the quarter under review, the total revenue stood at Rs 2,585.84. It was Rs 2,375.01 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, Britannia Industries said in a BSE filing.

The company said reported revenue, part of total income, for the quarter ended June 30, 2018, is not comparable to the revenue reported in the previous period due to implementation of GST with effect from July 1, 2017.

"Excise duty has subsumed into GST, and hence revenue from sale of goods for the period commencing July 1, 2017 does not include excise duty," it added.

"We have witnessed positive momentum in the market over the last few quarters. Our double-digit growth for the quarter is backed by a double-digit volume growth primarily due to our investment in brands and widening our distribution network through focus on direct reach, rural market and weak states," Britannia Industries MD Varun Berry said.

The international businesses remained flat due to slow-down in geographies like Middle East and Africa, Britannia said.

"The growth in dairy business has been subdued due to our focus on driving value added products and reducing our play in the less profitable commoditised products, which has helped us improve our profitability," Britannia said.

The company said in its 100th year it will enter into “many unchartered territories" to secure disruptive growth.

The company in a separate filing said its board of directors has recommended and approved issuance of secured redeemable non-convertible debentures as bonus debentures of Rs 50 in the ratio of 1 bonus debenture for every 1 equity shares held by the shareholders of the company.

Shares of Britannia Industries were trading at Rs 6,318.95 apiece, down 1.19 per cent, on BSE.

Abetted by lower expenses, FMCG major Nestle India has posted 49.95 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 395.03 crore for the second quarter ended June 30.

The January-December financial year following company had posted a net profit of Rs 263.43 crore for the April-June quarter of 2017-18.

Total income during the quarter stood at Rs 2,758.63 crore. It was Rs 2,525.96 crore in April-June, 2017-18, Nestle said in a BSE filing.

The company said financial results for the reported quarter are not comparable as sales for the June quarter 2017 were reported gross of Excise Duty and net of Value Added Tax (VAT)/ Sales Tax. Excise duty was reported as a separate expense line item.

"Consequent to the introduction of GST with effect from July 1 2017, VAT/Sales Tax, Excise duty etc have been subsumed into GST and accordingly the same is not recognised as part of sales," the company said.

"The market momentum continued to be favourable and...we have sustained our broad based volume growth across categories. There is an improvement in margins due to favourable cost of commodities and cost efficiency programmes.

"However, we are now witnessing headwinds in commodity prices," Nestle India Chairman and Managing Director Suresh Narayanan said.

The company said its total sales and domestic sales increased 8.5 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively in the reported quarter.

"The growth rates are adversely impacted due to lower reported sales by the change in structure of indirect taxes and reduction in realisations to pass on the GST benefits.

Manpasand Beverages has posted a 1.32 percent gain in net profit at Rs 36.38 cr for the first quarter ended June 30, 2018, as against net profit of Rs 35.91 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal year.

Revenue for the quarter under review stood at Rs 340.07 crore, an increase of 9.24 percent as compared to Rs 311.30 crore it posted during the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal. Earnings Per Share for the first quarter of the financial year 2019 was up 1.29 percent at Rs 3.18 per share, it said during its earnings announcement.

According to the company, the rise in net profit is not commensurate to rise in revenue mainly due to the reduction in other income and rise of depreciation (Non-Cash Item). The company is showing stable QoQ performance and is moving ahead promisingly, it said.

“Issues unrelated to operations caused some spillover and impacted our business in the month of June. Despite this challenge, we managed to perform relatively well and kept ourselves focused on expansion and product development. Operations are now back to normal and we continue to be confident about our growth plans," said Dhirendra Singh, Chairman & MD of Manpasand Beverages.

"Manpasand remains confident about the next fiscal year. Augmenting our presence through Quick Service Restaurants (QSRs), food chains, and retailers to develop stronger brand recognition for our products among consumers will continue to be the main driver of the company’s growth. The company will take this symbiotic growth approach in the coming days too. Product innovation and enhancing the distribution network will be the primary focus areas in our endeavor to create a point of differentiation amongst our local and global competitors," Singh further said.

Homegrown fruit drink maker is planning to expand other vertical with new product range launch subsuming milk-based drinks, fruit-based sugar-free drinks, glucose drinks and protein-based drinks to bring overall revenues on rise and will provide a significant boost in our growth journey across local and global markets.

Jubilant FoodWorks reported a three-fold jump in net profit to Rs 74.67 crore in the first quarter of the financial year 2018-19 ending June 30 as compared to Rs 23.84 crore the company posted during the same period last year.

Operating revenue for first quarter of the fiscal year 2019 jumped 26 percent to Rs 855 crore. The operator of Dominos Pizza and Dunkin' Donuts reported operating revenue of Rs 678 crore during the corresponding period last year.

The growth was on the back of a strong same-store-growth of 25.9% in Domino’s Pizza, the company said during its earnings announcement.

“We are pleased to start the year on a strong note with our robust performance in Q1 FY19. The strong growth in Domino’s came on the back of a superior product, Value for money delivery and growing digital contribution. This together with our focus on achieving break-even in Dunkin’ Donuts by the end of the financial year will continue to drive profitable growth for us," said Shyam S. Bhartia, Chairman, and Hari S. Bhartia, Co-Chairman, Jubilant FoodWorks.

According to the company, the strong performance in Q1 FY19 was on account of a good response to the Every Day Value offer on Regular Pizzas launched in March 2018, and which was supported aggressively during the IPL T20 cricket season.

“We delivered a strong quarter in both Domino’s and Dunkin’ Donuts. In Domino’s, the extension of EDV to Regular Pizzas received a very good response with an increase in both new customer acquisition as well as existing customer frequency. Dunkin’ Donuts too saw encouraging growth and made good progress towards profitability on the back of successful innovations and disciplined cost management,” said Pratik Pota, CEO and Whole-time Director, Jubilant FoodWorks.

During the quarter under review, the company opened 13 new Domino's Pizza outlets and closed three stores. The company also opened one new Dunkin' Donuts outlet during the quarter.

Tata Starbucks, a joint venture between the Tata Group and Starbucks, posted its first positive Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) after sales growth nearly doubled during FY17-18.

Tata Global, in its latest annual report said Tata Starbucks, improved sales by 28% in FY 2017-18 with robust in-store performance and new stores added during the year. With the JV posting sales of Rs 272 crore in FY16-17, a back-of-the-envelope calculation shows revenue to be about Rs 348 crore during the last fiscal. “For the first time since inception, the company recorded a positive Ebitda,” the report added.

The growth is nearly double compared to a year ago period when it mostly focussed on profitability and halted aggressive expansion. However, it added nearly 25 stores last financial year.

The JV narrowed net loss marginally to Rs 30 crore during the year to March 2018 compared to Rs 32 crore a year ago. “Various in-store initiatives and the loyalty programme coupled with the ambience provided in stores resulted in improved existing store performance,” the annual report said.

With 116 stores until March, a back-ofthe-envelope calculation shows that each Starbucks outlet sold coffee, snacks and merchandise worth Rs 3 crore. That’s more than rival Coffee Day Enterprises, which runs the country’s top coffee house chain, Cafe Coffee Day, and had retail revenue of Rs 1,590 crore from 1,722 outlets, or about annual sales of Rs 90 lakh per store. Jubilant FoodWorks, which runs Dunkin’ Donuts and Domino’s Pizza in India, clocked Rs 2.6 crore per store.

Starbucks, which started operations in India in October 2012, recorded the fastest store expansion in the company’s 45-year history in the initial few years.

Also, for global coffee chains including Starbucks, consumers are attuned to a takeaway culture, which helps them add margins at very little cost. In India, however, office-goers and students go to cafes to relax and spend hours over coffee and snacks. Real estate costs in India are high, making it important for retailers to realise average price per square foot of space.

Starbucks expanded its partnership with Tata Group beyond India by launching the latter’s single-origin coffee in the US and Himalayan mineral water in Singapore nearly two years ago.

Manpasand Beverages on Wednesday posted 36.42 per cent year-on-year rise in profit at Rs 42.74 crore for the quarter ended March 31. It had posted a net profit of Rs 31.33 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Total revenue of the company increased 39.38 per cent to Rs 392.95 crore during the quarter under review. The figure stood at Rs 281.92 crore in the same period last year.

Earnings per share of the company rose to Rs 3.73 as of March against Rs 2.74 in Q4FY17. The figure was at Rs 1.05 as of December 31.

The board of the company also recommended of final dividend at 5 per cent on the face value of Rs 10 per equity share for the financial year ended March 31, 2018.

The share price of the company closed 3 per cent down at Rs 143.25.

Shares of the company have been falling since auditing major Deloitte Haskins & Sells last month resigned as statutory auditors of Manpasand Beverages as the fruit juice maker failed to provide them with "significant information" on the financial results for the year ended March 31, 2018. Shares of the company plunged nearly 30 per cent on a month-to-date basis.

France based world’s second largest distiller, Pernod Ricard, saw its India revenues jump 6% but profits fell amid regulatory hurdles in FY16-17.

The maker of Absolut Vodka and Chivas Regal Scotch had sales of Rs 12,938 crore in the year to March 2017 with a net profit of Rs 956 crore, a 12% dip from the year ago, its latest filing with the Registrar of Companies showed.

India is one of the largest and most profitable markets for Pernod Ricard globally.

The Indian unit accounts for nearly 10% of its sales and 8% of EBIT. The company, over the past few years, had been growing sales consistently by over 15% on the back of premium brands but saw growth slowing in the last two fiscals.

The company, however, seems to have recovered from last fiscal’s performance, with its India sales growing 14% during the nine months ended March 2018.

“We had good performance across the portfolio, enhanced by favourable basis of comparison. The highway ban is now fully implemented and no further disruptions are expected,” it said in its recent investors' presentation.

Earlier this month, Pernod India trimmed more than 100 people from its workforce with one-and-a-half year’s salaries as severance pay, officials said.

Over the past two years, there have been policy changes in West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand to allow liquor sales only through government owned corporations, similar to states such as Delhi, Rajasthan, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Supreme Court restrictions last year, on the sale of alcohol near state and national highways, led to the closure of about a third or 30,000 of the country’s liquor vends, causing a drop in demand for beer and spirits. The court subsequently clarified its ruling, easing conditions for liquor sales and allowing many outlets to reopen.

Liquor companies saw a revival in consumer demand in the January-March quarter on a low base, especially after the impact of demonetisation wore off, the impact of last year’s highway ban receded and on increased stability following distribution changes in some states.

Rival United Spirits, which is now operated by Diageo, has historically been incentivised on volume growth with nearly 150 brands but has improved its share in premium segment to over 63% in FY18 compared with 38% in FY13.

USL also relaunched three core brands McDowell’s No 1, Bagpiper and Signature.

“USL is seeing an upward trajectory in its margins. Its close competitor, Pernod Ricard is seeing some compression in its EBITDA margins owing to tough competition given by USL which has ensured Pernod undertakes some price rationalisation,” said Abneesh Roy, senior vice president, institutional equities in an Edelweiss Securities report.

Domino's Pizza and Dunkin' Donuts chain operator in India, Jubilant Foodworks has posted a net profit of Rs 68.1 crore for the fourth quarter of the financial year 2017-18 ending March 31, the company said in its earnings announcement. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 6.7 crore during the same period last year.

The company reported 27 percent rise in its revenue to Rs 780 crore in the fourth quarter as compared to Rs 612 crore it posted during the corresponding period last fiscal.

For the full year, Jubilant posted a net profit of Rs 206 crore as opposed to Rs 67.2 crore it posted last year.

For the financial year 2017-18, operating revenues stood at Rs.2980 crore, up by 17.1 percent over last year, driven by a full year same-store growth of 13.9 percent in Domino’s Pizza, the company said.

“We are pleased with our performance in Q4 FY 18. Our key strategic initiatives undertaken in the past one year such as the launch of All-New Domino’s, Everyday Value and sharp focus on Digital sales drove strong growth for us, leading to a six-year high of 26.5% SSG for Domino’s Pizza in the quarter," said Pratik Pota, CEO and Whole Time Director at Jubilant FoodWorks.

"In Dunkin’ Donuts, we halved our losses in line with our stated commitment through a focus on Donuts and Beverages and shutting of unprofitable stores. Going forward, we will remain focused on the strategic pillars of Product Quality and Innovation, Value-for-money, Seamless Customer Experience and Digital Technology and are confident that these will help us deliver robust growth," Pota said further.

Jubilant FoodWorks, which operates Dominos Pizza and Dunkin Donuts chains in India, has reported strong financial results for the first quarter ended 30June, 2017.

Operating revenues for Q1 FY18 came in at Rs 6788 million, up 11.5% over Q1 FY17. This was driven by a robust Same Store Sales growth of 6.5% in Domino’s Pizza, the highest since Q1 FY16. Overall Profitability also saw significant improvement with EBITDA for Q1 FY18 increasing by 38% to Rs 796 million. The Q1 FY18 EBITDA margin at 11.7% was the highest in the last 8 quarters.

The Profit after Tax in Q1 FY18 stood at Rs 238 million, an increase of 26% over the corresponding period last year. PAT also reflects the adverse impact of Rs 90 million on account of restaurants closure. PAT Margins at 3.5% were the highest since Q1 FY17.

Shyam S. Bhartia, Chairman and Hari S. Bhartia, Co-Chairman, Jubilant FoodWorks Limited said, "We are happy to report a strong, all-round Q1 FY18 performance. We took a number of actions in the quarter towards driving innovation, delivering value and controlling costs, and we are pleased to see that our disciplined focus on driving profitable growth has begun having the desired impact. The performance strengthens our confidence in the underlying growth potential of our brands and the ability of our business model to unleash it."

Pratik Pota, CEO & Whole time Director, Jubilant FoodWorks Limited said, "At the beginning of the quarter, we had unveiled our new strategy for driving profitable growth. Today I am pleased to share encouraging progress in the execution of the strategy as reflected in our strong Q1FY18 performance. Our focus on delivering better Value for money and driving innovation has helped bring back strong growth in Domino’s Pizza. We have also made significant progress towards reducing losses and building a sustainable business in Dunkin’ Donuts. Additionally, our discipline of controlling costs and driving efficiencies has helped improve overall operating margins. Going forward, we will continue to drive the strategic pillars of Product and Innovation, Value, Customer Experience, Technology and Cost Efficiencies."

ITC, the FMCF major has reported over 10.47 per cent rise in third quarter which ended December 2014, reported PTI.
The Kolkata based company has reported net profit at Rs 2,635 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2014.

ITC has earlier posted a profit of Rs 2,385.34 crore in the corresponding quarter a year earlier.

Net sales increased by marginal 2.05 per cent to Rs 8,800.22 crore as against Rs 8,623.11 crore in the same period last year, ITC said in a BSE filing.

Earnings from the company's FMCG business, including cigarettes, increased by 4.23 per cent to Rs 6,456.06 crore, while that from the non-FMCG business section grew by 0.31 per cent to Rs 9,582.95 crore.

Meanwhile, ITC’s share was trading at Rs 359 on the BSE in afternoon trade, down 3.29 per cent from the previous close.