Q3 results: Adani Wilmar net profit falls over 18% to ₹201 crore; share price off day's high

Adani Wilmar on Wednesday reported a consolidated net profit of ₹201 crore in the quarter ended December 31, 2023 (Q3FY24), registering an 18.4% drop on a year-on-year basis "due to high-cost inventory and hedge dis-alignment." The Adani Group firm had posted a net profit of ₹246.2 crore in Q3FY23.

Adani Wilmar's revenue in the third quarter of the current financial year came in at ₹12,828.4 crore, showing a decline of 17% on a YoY basis from ₹15,438 crore the firm had posted in the same quarter a year ago.

Adani Wilmar's EBITDA (Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) came in at ₹503.8 crore, dropping 16.7% on a YoY basis, from ₹605 crore in Q3FY23. The margin came in flat at 4% on a YoY basis.

In an exchange filing, Adani Wilmar said the company is progressively using more regional approaches to drive deeper penetration into the local markets. The company is on track to more than double its rural town coverage during the financial year, from around 13,000 towns to over 30,000 rural towns by the end of this financial year.

Commenting on the results, Angshu Mallick, MD & CEO of Adani Wilmar Ltd, said: “We continued to witness the growth momentum in packaged staple foods driven by a shift in consumer preferences for hygienic and quality products. The revenues from the branded products in the domestic market, under the Food & FMCG segment have been growing at 40%+ YoY in the past nine quarters enabling us to close FY24 with an estimated around ₹5,000 crores of revenue in the segment."

The company, as per Mallick, is putting energies into rapidly scaling up the distribution network for general trade to realise the "immense opportunity" in packaged staple foods. The company is also developing the hotels, restaurants and cafes segment (HORECA) and export channels, which Adani Wilmar thinks will continue to witness much faster growth in the near future.

Adani Wilmar share price was trading at ₹358.90 apiece, up 0.35% on BSE at 2.21 PM. The scrip opened at ₹357.20 and hit the day's high at ₹362.95.