(Reuters) -Page Industries, which licenses Jockey and Speedo products in India, beat first quarter profit estimates on Thursday on lower costs and a steady demand for innerwear.
The company’s consolidated net profit after tax rose 21.5% to 2.01 billion Indian rupees ($22.92 million), coming in above analysts’ average estimate of 1.97 billion rupees, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Page flagged a “steady recovery month on month” in demand, in an environment where urban consumption still remains muted, impacted by the high cost of living in big cities.
“With our product pricing remaining unchanged, our focus and efforts have been to maintain operating margins,” Page said, attributing lower costs to better raw material sourcing, sharp digital marketing and other cost optimization strategies.
While Page Industries’ revenue rose 3.1%, driven by a nearly 2% volume growth, its expenses declined almost 1%.
The decline was led by a 78% drop in inventory costs, yielding an EBITDA growth of 21.1%.
Page Industries has also been offering premium varieties in innerwear for both men and women as well as expanding its footprint in tier 2 and tier 3 cities in India, which has aided sales growth.
The company’s revenue from operations rose to 13.17 billion rupees in the first quarter.
($1 = 87.7000 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Ananta Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
