Textured Jersey 1Q FY15 profits drop on temporary slowdown; recovery already on track
Friday, 8 August 2014 00:25
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Textured Jersey Lanka PLC (TJL) yesterday reported a top line of Rs. 2.7 b for the quarter ended 30 June (1Q FY2014/15), 7% lower than that of last year.
According to Bill Lam, Chairman of Textured Jersey, as cautioned in the last review, the main reason for this was the spill-over effects of the temporary slowdown in the US demand due to abnormal weather in the early part of the calendar year.
He further stated that the drop in volumes had a compounding effect on the bottom line, contributing to a 32% year-on-year drop in net profit to Rs. 164 m for 1Q FY2014/15. However, demand from the US has already recovered and TJL expects its original performance trajectory to regain momentum in the coming quarters.
During the quarter under review, as a result of the drop in sales volumes, gross profit came in at Rs. 219 m, representing a margin of 8.2%, compared to 12.1% in the corresponding quarter of last year. The cascading effect of the reduced gross profit resulted in operating profit for the quarter reducing to Rs. 123 m compared to Rs. 228 m during the same period of last year. This was despite administrative and distribution expenses reducing by 18% year-on-year to Rs. 107 m for 1Q FY2014/15.
TJL’s strong cash generation ability enabled the company to maintain its near debt free balance sheet as at the quarter end, with a strong net cash position of Rs. 1.86 b, up 5% from a year before. However, owing to lower interest rates and exchange rate fluctuations during the period, net finance income for 1Q FY2014/15 was Rs. 17.6 m, 26% lower than that of last year. According to Lam, the combination of the net finance income and Rs. 20.6 m of non-operating income consisting of the technical service fees from Ocean India brought the net profit for the period to Rs. 164 m, still 32% lower than the corresponding period of last year.
Lam concluded by stating that with the US demand back on track, combined with the 10-12% capacity additions and the savings from the multi-fuel boiler plant, TJL should be able to regain its growth momentum and continuously add value to the shareholders in the upcoming quarters.
