BENGALURU (Reuters) – India’s IFB Industries Ltd posted a narrower third-quarter loss on Monday as weak sales of its home appliances were offset by strong results in its business that makes motors for white goods and for automotive applications.
IFB’s consolidated net loss narrowed to 11.4 million rupees ($139,890) in the three months ended Dec. 31, from 32.1 million rupees a year earlier when high costs and low demand hurt margins.
Consumers in India have limited their budgets due to rising inflation, which has resulted in low demand for appliances such as washing machines and air conditioners.
Kolkata-based IFB’s home appliances business swung to a loss of 55.9 million rupees in the quarter, from a pre-tax profit of 39.1 million rupees a year ago.
On the other hand, IFB reported a surge in profit at its engineering division, which also makes fine blanked components besides motors for white goods and for the auto sector.
The division’s pre-tax profit more than doubled to 162.6 million rupees in the quarter from 60.3 million rupees a year ago.
IFB, which competes with Whirlpool Of India, V Guard Industries and Voltas, said total revenue from operations rose 4.8% to 9.99 billion rupees.
The engineering division contributed a little over 19% of revenue, while the home appliances business accounted for nearly 76%.
IFB’s shares closed 2% lower ahead of the results. They have fallen 5.4% so far this year, following a 20% fall in 2022. ($1 = 81.4920 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Yagnoseni Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza)
