MUMBAI: Aditya Birla group flagship company Grasim Industries, which straddles textiles & textile fibres, real estate, building materials, cement and paints, has reported a standalone net loss of Rs 5212 crore in the June quarter despite a 10.5 per cent growth in its revenue. It reported a net profit of Rs 355.27 crore in the same quarter last fiscal year and a net loss of Rs 440.93 crore in the March quarter of this year.
Whereas, consolidated revenue from operations rose 10.5 per cent to Rs 6,893.87 crore in an year, the Mumbai-based company said in a statement. However, Consolidated net declined to Rs 1,207.93 crore as against Rs 1,576.47 crore.
The company said its standalone operating revenue plunged 51.7 per cent to Rs 325.1 crore from Rs 673.3 crore, while its operating margin compressed more than halved to 4.7 per cent from 10.8 per cent, but the company did not reveal the reason for such a bad set of numbers.
Consolidated operating income also declined 4 percent to Rs 4,760 crore, driven by investments in the paints business, higher depreciation and interest charges on account of new growth businesses, the company said.
Grasim’s cement business added new capacity of 8.7 million tonne, taking total grey cement capacity, including domestic and overseas to 154.9 million tonne per annum. Its newly launched paint brand, Birla Opus’ market presence reached to over 3,300 towns.
The company's capital expenditure stood at Rs 983 crore. The budgeted standalone capex for financial year 2025 is Rs 4,553 crore of which around Rs 3,000 crore is towards new growth businesses, Grasim said.
Cellulosic staple fibre business saw its fourth consecutive quarter of growth
The cellulosic staple fibre business saw its fourth consecutive quarter of growth due to improving domestic demand and global price trends. This business achieved its highest-ever quarterly sales volume of 212-kilo tonne, which rose 14 per cent.
The cellulosic fashion yarn business saw a marginal volume growth of 2 percent due to subdued demand in the downstream value chain and due to cheaper imports from Chinese producers. This segment saw revenue growth of 6 per cent at Rs 3,787 crore.
The chemicals business revenue fell 4 per cent to Rs 2,066 crore. Speciality chemicals revenue mix improved to 30 percent giving it an operating income of Rs 310 crore, down 13 per cent.
The building materials business reported revenue of Rs 18,701 crore, up 11 percent led by the growth in cement and ramp-up in revenue from new growth businesses--paints and B2B e-commerce. But operating income fell 7 per cent to Rs 2,909 crore mainly due to initial funding of new growth businesses.
Grasim Industries said its total capex for the Birla Opus business was Rs 7,795 crore till June 2024, around 77 per cent of the planned capex outlay.
Despite the poor set of numbers, the Grasim counter rose 1.3 percent to Rs 2,576.10 on the BSE, whose benchmark gained more than 1 per cent at close.