Hemas Holdings delivered a commendable performance in the first nine months of the financial year 2023. Notwithstanding the volatile economic conditions, the Group posted a cumulative revenue of Rs.
81.7 billion, a 41.6 per cent growth over last year.
Despite the 51.5 per cent growth in Group operating profits, reported earnings for the period remained flat at Rs. 3.2 billion amidst the escalating interest rates.
While the prolonged effects of the economic crisis continued to impact the operating dynamics and the consumption habits, the Group posted a revenue of Rs. 29.8 billion for the quarter, a growth of 38.2 per cent over same period last year.
Increased resilience in the backdrop of successive crises coupled with future focused business strategies on optimising working capital, internationalisation and customer centricity resulted in a stronger recovery in business activities. The positive momentum of declining global commodity prices and improved exchange availability was not reflected in the earnings due to inflationary pressure and elevated borrowing costs.
Consumer Brands
Consumer Sector reported a 44.3 per cent growth in cumulative revenue to reach Rs. 32.5 billion for the first nine months of the year. Increased focus on the International and exports segments, notably on personal care and learning verticals positively contributed to the revenue growth. Despite the growth in operating profit, the dual impact of increase in interest rates and the widened working capital base restricted the earnings to Rs 1.9 billion as against Rs. 1.6 billion reported last year.
The Sector reported a revenue of Rs. 13.6 billion for the quarter, supported by the improved performance of both the Home and Personal Care and Learning Segments. Prudent efforts to identify challenges and implement appropriate pricing and cost management strategies along with dynamic supply chain solutions allowed the Sector to achieve an operating profit of Rs 1.8 billion during the quarter.
Consumer Brands International
During the quarter, revenue from new launches resulted in a 24.0 per cent contribution to the total Home and Personal Care International revenue against the 16.9 per cent recorded for the same period last year.
Healthcare
Cumulative revenue for the period stood at Rs. 48.0 billion, a growth of 42.5 per cent over same period last year resulting from the National Medicines Regularity Authority (NMRA) approved price adjustments made to partially compensate for the steep currency devaluation.
In line with the growth in revenue, operating profit for the period improved to Rs. 3.8 billion while the escalating finance costs resulted in a degrowth in earnings of 8.5 per cent.
The Healthcare Sector achieved a revenue of Rs. 15.8 billion for the quarter, a growth of 37.3 per cent over last year. During the quarter, the Sector delivered operating profit and earnings of Rs. 1.3 billion and Rs. 412.3 million respectively.
Mobility
Improved volumes and the yields of the passenger vertical coupled with the devaluation benefit positively contributed to the 37.9 per cent growth in underlying revenue of the Mobility Sector. Consequently, the Sector posted a cumulative underlying operating profit of Rs 1.2 billion while the earnings remained flat at Rs. 655.1 million.
Underlying revenue of the Sector increased by 5.8 per cent to Rs. 384.5 million during the quarter while the operating profit witnessed a degrowth of 19.4 per cent due to decline in freight rates and cargo sector volumes.