Bata India reports Q1 net profit of Rs 174 crore

Footwear major Bata India Limited reported a 63 percent rise in net profit to Rs 174 crore ($20.7 million) for the first quarter ended June 30, as against Rs 107 crore in the year-ago quarter.

The company’s revenue for the quarter was down by 2 percent to Rs 944 crore, as against Rs 958 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal year.

Commenting on the results, Gunjan Shah, managing director CEO of Bata India in a statement said, “Bata India navigated well through the slugging consumption environment further accentuated due to the elections and extreme heat wave in the last quarter. We sustained our gross margin with our premiumisation strategy while continuing investments in marketing and technology platforms.”

“We added 33 franchise stores in the quarter, primarily in tier 3 to 5 towns to cater the demand for branded products and achieve better returns on capital. Along with cautious control on costs and focus on efficiency and productivity, we continued to manage our inventory while having strong instore availability of fresh merchandise in anticipation of festive season driven consumption uptick,” Shah added.

During the quarter, Bata achieved significant growth in digital sales over the previous quarter due to premiumisation and casualisation strategy with its Power brand leading the sneaker category.