This packaging firm says raw material costs will rise aiding inventory value in next quarter

“The results for the quarter would have been better by Rs 20 crore but for the non-repetitive inventory loss arising from the sharp drop in prices of raw material towards the quarter end,” the firm said in a statement.

Poddar said, as far as commodity segments are concerned, polyester was making losses and those are expected to continue for a few more quarters because of oversupply.

In the BoPP (biaxially-oriented polypropylene-label material made of plastic) segment, he said, the firm made some money in the last quarter.

“What we feel is that the worst is behind because in BoPP four new lines have come up in the last 12 to 18 months and most of the capacity is now getting consumed. The BoPP spread should ideally go up from here,” he added.

Poddar noted that specialty sales were rising. The company, in the release earlier, had also said that the export markets showed signs of improvement with better specialty sales. Cosmo with over two third of its revenue coming from BOPP speciality films could withstand the margin pressure better than the industry, it said.

“We continue to build our specialty films portfolio by adding speciality polyester films including shrink label and sun shield films which would further strengthen our overall margins and also the ability to withstand margin pressures if any in future,” the company added.

The company’s petcare vertical Zigly registered rapid growth during the quarter and clocked monthly revenue (GMV) with a run rate revenue of Rs 3 crore on the back of expanding retail footprints, innovative sales promotion and increasing online presence, the firm said.

“We are targeting to hit Rs 50 crore this year,” Poddar said, adding that the acquisition of Petsy, an online venture in the Petcare space, is also complete, which would further accelerate the growth of the petcare vertical.

This Delhi-based company has a market cap of Rs 16.36 billion. In the past year, the stock has erased nearly 30 percent of investors’ wealth as against benchmark Sensex which has gained more than 8 percent during the period.