Adani Wilmar reports Rs 79 cr loss in April-June quarter due to fall in edible oil prices

New Delhi: Edible oil major Adani Wilmar on Wednesday reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 79 crore in the first quarter of this fiscal year due to lower income amid fall in prices of cooking oils.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 194 crore in the year-ago period.

Total income fell 12 per cent to Rs 12,928 crore during the April-June period of this fiscal from Rs 14,724 crore in the corresponding period of the previous financial year, Adani Wilmar said in a regulatory filing.

Adani Wilmar sells edible oils and other food items under Fortune Brand.

In volume terms, the company achieved 25 per cent growth to 14.9 lakh tonnes from 11.9 lakh tonnes.

"Our margins during the quarter got impacted by high-cost inventory in a falling edible oil price environment and dis-aligned hedges compared to spot prices of physical commodity," said Angshu Mallick, MD & CEO of Adani Wilmar, said.

However, he said: "We have regained the momentum in our edible oil business with the decline in the edible oil prices. The soft prices of edible oil are expected to augur well for the industry." The company is gaining good share from regional brands in the under-indexed customer segments with marketing and sales focus on specific geographies and oil categories, Mallick added.

To capture the opportunity in the value-added blended oils, Mallick said the company is investing in this segment under Xpert brand.

Across different business segments, Adani Wilmar reported a 14 per cent fall in revenue from edible oils business to Rs 9,845 crore in the first quarter of FY24 from Rs 11,511 crore in the previous year.

The turnover of industry essentials segment fell 3 per cent to Rs 1,986 crore from Rs 2,353 crore.

However, the revenue of food and FMCG segment rose 28 per cent to Rs 1,097 crore from Rs 860 crore.

Elaborating on the performance, Adani Wilmar pointed out that since the first quarter of the last fiscal year, "the price of edible oils has been declining. This trend continued during Q1'24 with the price of edible oils experiencing further decline, in the range of 5 per cent to 20 per cent (Q1'24 vs Q4'23), before recovering as the quarter came to a close." This reduction has been attributed to a combination of factors, including the decline in consumer demand in developed economies, easing of supply at the Black Sea region and robust production of oilseeds globally, the company noted.

Adani Wilmar, a 50:50 joint venture between business conglomerate Adani Group and Singapore-based Wilmar, got listed on the stock exchange last year after raising Rs 3,600 crore through an Initial Public Offer (IPO).