Have grown by 30-45 per cent YoY: Aditya Birla Nuvo

Our Corporate Bureau
31 July 2006

Sanjeev Aga, MD, Aditya Birla Nuvo, says that almost every business of the company has grown by 30 to 45 per cent YoY. CNBC-TV 18 shares with domain-b details of its snap interview with Sanjeev Aga and Adesh Gupta, CFO.

Give us the key highlights of the performance?
Aga: We had a solid Q1, our turnover for Q1 is Rs 1,460 crore, which is almost 90 per cent higher than last year and our profits have also doubled from Rs 33 crore to Rs 66 crore. The turnover is not completely comparable because during last year we had increased our stake in some businesses and have also had an amalgamation. But even if one has to compare, almost every business has grown by 30 per cent to 45 per cent on a YoY basis. So we are very pleased.

Do you see the robust growth continuing in the next quarter? Any cost pressure that you are witnessing in any of these businesses?
Aga: We also create our own cost pressures to stay ahead of competition but nothing in particular. We look forward to the coming quarter.

Could you give us a rundown on major businesses which have done well?
Gupta: Practically all the businesses have done well. Garments have done well based on the performance of the brands, carbon black was supported by higher domestic demand and higher realisations. Even in the case of textiles, last year we have put in a full combing plant and even vested yarns have helped in doubling the profit there.

In the case of telecom, our share has gone up from 4 per cent to 35 per cent because of acquisitions from AT&T and Tata's, which has helped us in increasing the telecom share of the profit. The only missing point is in the case of life insurance, where we have slipped a bit and there the losses have increased.

If you could throw a bit more light on Madura Garments and expansion plans there. How is the product range doing?
Gupta: We are increasing our retail presence, which is helping us. We are putting in almost 1,20,000 square feet of retail space in the next one-two year's time. In case of Louis Philip, we are raising our price points and making it a top brand and there the growth rate is over 25 per cent. Even in the case of Allen Solly and Van Heusen, we have similar growth backed by higher volumes. This is the case with Peter England also.