India's LT Foods Q4 profit leaps on strong demand

LT Foods

18/05/2023 11:52

BENGALURU, May 18 (Reuters) - India's LT Foods
 LTOL.NS , which sells Daawat basmati rice, reported a 79% surge
in quarterly profit on Thursday, helped by strong demand for its
packaged rice and robust export prices.
    The rice producer's consolidated net profit rose to 1.28
billion rupees ($15.65 million) in the quarter ended March 31,
from 715.1 million rupees, a year earlier.
    The company, in an exchange filing, said that the number of
households consuming its products grew 31.26% to 4.5 million in
the fiscal ended 2023. 
    LT Foods also exports rice to more than 60 countries like
the United States and in geographies such as Europe, the Middle
East and the Far East.
    The profit jump comes as prices of Indian rice exports
climbed to a near two-year high by end-February as importers
preferred the Indian variety over the more expensive staples
from hubs like Thailand and Vietnam.  RIC/AS 
    Consolidated revenue from operations in the fourth quarter
rose more than 19% to 18.21 billion rupees, spurred by a 30%
year-on-year growth of the company's basmati and other specialty
segment. 
    "Our India volume market share continues to increase and
currently stands at 29.6% (annually)" said Managing Director and
CEO Ashwani Arora. 
    India, the world's biggest exporter of rice, dispatched
record high numbers of the home-grown staple in 2022 despite
government curbs on overseas sales.  
    Shares of LT Foods rose 3.7% after results on Thursday. 

($1 = 81.7800 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Eileen
Soreng and Shailesh Kuber)
 ((Hritam.Mukherjee@thomsonreuters.com; +91 9830427878;))