NEW DELHI: Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (HCCBL), the bottling arm of Coca-Cola in India, saw its profit decline nearly 93 per cent to Rs 71.61 crore in the pandemic-hit FY21, according to regulatory documents.
In 2020-21, revenue from operations fell around 29 per cent to Rs 6,956.02 crore compared to the year-ago period. The company had logged a net profit of Rs 974.52 crore in FY20, while its revenue from operations for the same stood at Rs 9,788.91 crore. HCCBL's total income for FY21 also declined 29.19 per cent to Rs 7,003.87 crore as against Rs 9,892.39 crore in the preceding financial year, according to the Registrar of Companies filing, shared by market intelligence firm Tofler.
When contacted, a HCCBL spokesperson said the decline in net profit was "on account of the COVID-19 pandemic induced impact, specifically in Q1" when the supply chain was disrupted due to restrictions imposed on the movement of goods, closure of borders in several states followed by a nationwide lockdown from the 25th of March 2020.
"The net profit after tax declined by 92 per cent to Rs 71.6 crore from Rs 974.5 crore in the financial year 2019-20 primarily on account of the Net Profit including profit on sale of the north territory business pursuant to Business Transfer Agreements (BTA)," he said.
He further said "on a comparable basis (excluding BTA), the net profit declined by 83 per cent over 2019-20." In FY21, HCCBL's other income also declined 53.76 per cent to Rs 47.84 crore as against Rs 103.48 crore a year ago. During the financial year 2020-21, the company's total expenses were reduced by 25.14 per cent to Rs 6,902.08 crore as against Rs 9,220.48 crore in the previous year.
However, HCCBL had witnessed a sequential month-on-month recovery in Q2 and Q3 of 2020 and closed the year with strong double-digit revenue growth in the last quarter.
"The recovery in the second half of the financial year was attributed to the gradual relaxation of movement restrictions, as well as the company's focus and effort in strengthening market execution, leveraging emerging channels, and simplifying pack price architecture," he said.
The company "strongly believes in the long-term prospects of the Indian market and continues to invest for future growth," he said.
"The company has made additional investments of Rs 621.1 crore in property plant and equipment during the year including setting up of four additional manufacturing lines to produce Juice PET, Juice Tetra & ASSP packs at its manufacturing facilities in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, and Gujarat," HCCBL spokesperson said.
HCCBL manufactures, packages and sells beverages, Minute Maid, Maaza, SmartWater, Kinley, Thums Up, Sprite, Coca-Cola, Limca, Fanta, Georgia and several others through its 15 factories spread across the country.