Aditya Birla Fashion reports profit of Rs 58 crore for the October-December quarter

NEW DELHI: Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd (ABFRL) on Monday reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 58 crore for the October-December quarter of the ongoing financial year riding on the back of business recovery and cost-control measures.

The fashion retailer had posted a net loss of Rs 38 crore in the year-ago quarter, while the net loss during the preceding July-September quarter stood at Rs 188 crore.

Its revenue, however, declined 20 per cent year-on-year to Rs 2,076 crore during the December quarter. Sequentially, it more than doubled from Rs 1,028 crore in September quarter.

“The October-December quarter saw a significant acceleration of business recovery along sequential quarters as consumers started coming back to stores and continued to buy more online due to buoyant festive mood and visibility of a declining coronavirus infection spread,” ABFRL said.

Revenue of the Pantaloons segment fell 25 per cent to Rs 811 crore, while that of Madura Fashion and Lifestyle dipped 19 per cent to Rs 1,263 crore.

On the back of strong festive and favourable wedding seasons, sales of lifestyle brands recovered to 80 per cent of last year levels, while Pantaloons recovered to 75 per cent of pre-Covid levels. In terms of operational performance EBITDA decreased 11 per cent and other expenses were down 28 per cent during the period.