Bajaj Consumer Care FY20 profit falls 16% to Rs 190.5 crore; board appoints Jaideep Nandi as MD

Homegrown consumer goods company Bajaj Consumer Care has closed financial year 2019-20 (FY20) with a 15.73 per cent decline in profit after tax at Rs 190.55 crore as against Rs 226.13 crore in FY19, partially impacted by the coronavirus-led nationwide lockdown. The net sales of the Bajaj Group company fell by 7.17 per cent to Rs 817.75 crore as compared to Rs 880.94 crore in the same period last year, Bajaj Consumer Care said in a regulatory filing.

For the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2020 (Q4 FY20), Bajaj Consumer Care reported 59.55 per cent decline in its profit at Rs 24.52 crore as against Rs 60.62 crore in Q4 FY19. Sale fell by 29.23 per cent to Rs 168.63 crore compared to Rs 238.26 crore in the same period last fiscal.

"Q4 FY20 performance was hugely impacted due to disruption in sales in the month of March led by lockdown to contain the outbreak of COVID-19," the company said in the regulatory filing.

"This has greatly impacted overall FY20 performance to a great extent," it added.

The revenue from operations declined by 28.60 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 175.39 crore during January-March quarter of FY20. For FY20, revenue from operations fell by 7.17 per cent YoY to Rs 844.20 crore.

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EBITDA (Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation) stood at Rs 25.04 crore compared to Rs 79.04 crore in Q4 FY19, registering a decline of 68.32 per cent. For financial year 2019-20, it dropped by 23.82 per cent YoY to Rs 216.24 crore. EBITDA margin dropped to 14.8 per cent for Q4FY20 and 26.4 per cent for FY20, down by 18.3 per cent and 5.8 per cent, respectively.

Bajaj Consumer Care also informed the exchange that its board has recommended a dividend of 200 per cent (i.e. Rs 2 per share, on equity shares of the face value of Rs 1 each) for the financial year ended March 31, 2020.

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In a separate development, the board of the company approved the appointment of Jaideep Nandi as managing director of the company effective July 1, 2020. Nandi will replace Sumit Malhotra based on the recommendation of the Nomination, Remuneration and Corporate Governance Committee, it added.

Sumit Malhotra will continue to be on the board as director and advisor to the board, the company said.

Ahead of earnings announcements, shares of Bajaj Consumer Care closed Thursday's trade at Rs 152.35 apiece, up 1.60 per cent, on the BSE.