India's EID-Parry reports 14% fall in Q3 profit hurt by distillery ops

E I D-Parry (India)

14/02/2023 13:41

BENGALURU, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Sugarmaker EID-Parry
(India)  EIDP.NS  reported a 13.7% fall in third-quarter profit
on Tuesday, as it battled higher costs and reduced distillery
production.
    Profit slipped to 157.8 million rupees ($1.91 million) for
the three months ended Dec. 31 from 182.9 million rupees a year
earlier.
    Total expenses climbed about 7% to 7.21 billion rupees,
mainly driven by higher coal prices, the company said.
    Companies globally have been battling higher costs of raw
materials and labour over the last few quarters, shaving
millions of dollars off their bottomline. 
    For EID-Parry, revenue from operations increased 6% to 7.27
billion rupees.
    Improved sugar export volumes and realisations partially
offset the reduction in distillery production, the company said
in a statement.
    Profit before tax for the sugar segment came in at 228.6
million rupees from a loss of 1.8 million rupees, while that of
the distillery segment dropped nearly 100% to 200,000 rupees. 
    Sugar mills could also be set for more pain due to
potentially lower exports.
    Reuters reported last month that sugar mills would stop cane
crushing up to two months earlier than last year in the
country's top-producing state Maharashtra, as heavy rain had
curtailed sugarcane availability.
    Shares in the Chennai, Tamil Nadu-based company closed 0.65%
lower. Through Tuesday's close, shares had fallen 9.4% this
year. 
($1 = 82.7690 Indian rupees)
 (Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam in Chennai and Nishit Navin
in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
 ((Praveen.Paramasivam@thomsonreuters.com; +91 867-525-3569;
Nishit.Navin@thomsonreuters.com;))