Driven by higher finance costs, net profit at vertically integrated textile producer Alok Industries was knocked down 78 per cent year over year for the three months to June 30, 2015. In a BSE filing, Alok disclosed a 78 per cent net profit drop in its first quarter of fiscal 2016 at Rs 9.72 crore as against Rs 43.48 crore in the same quarter of last fiscal. Resultantly, earnings per share also were driven down to Rs 0.07 in the quarter under review compared to Rs 0.32 per share in the first quarter of fiscal 2016. Revenues for the first quarter of the current fiscal too declined 9.82 per cent to Rs 3359.53 crore vis-à-vis Rs 3725.56 crore in the prior fiscal’s first quarter. The BSE-listed company was able to reduce its expenses by 9.55 per cent in the reporting quarter to Rs 2856.52 crore versus Rs 3158.27 crore from a fiscal ago quarter. Profit from operations before other income and finance costs at the Mumbai headquartered company fell slower at 7.88 per cent year on year to Rs 531.15 crore. Operating margin for the quarter stood at 15.68 per cent as compared to 15.44 per cent for the previous fiscal’s corresponding period. For the reporting period, other income more than doubled to Rs 58.95 crore versus Rs 25.06 crore in the same quarter of fiscal 2015. Profit from ordinary activities before finance costs at the yarns, garments and home textiles manufacturer slipped 1.92 per cent from the first quarter of fiscal 2015 to Rs 590.10 crore. Despite a reduction in both, turnover and expenses, finance costs ballooned 7.51 per cent at Rs 575.24 crore in the first quarter of fiscal 2016 from Rs 535.05 crore in the similar period of earlier fiscal. Pretax profit also tumbled to Rs 14.86 crore in the first quarter of current fiscal as against Rs 66.64 crore in the prior fiscal first quarter. Due to the lower pre-tax profit, tax expense at Alok Industries drove down to Rs 5.14 crore compared to Rs 23.16 crore in the first quarter of fiscal 2015.
