Diversified group Raymond Ltd on Tuesday reported a 25.84% drop in consolidated net profit at Rs 196.48 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2023, due to exceptional items.

The leading textile and apparel maker posted a net profit of Rs 264.97 crore in the January-March period of the last fiscal, Raymond said in a regulatory filing.

During the quarter, however, its operating income rose 9.8% to Rs 2,150.18 crore compared to Rs 1,958.1 crore a year earlier.

The total expenses of Singhania family-controlled companies were Rs 1,939.27 crore, up 17.34% from Rs 1,790.12 crore in the same period. Its total revenue in the March quarter was Rs 2,192.20, up 7.89%.

“In Q4FY23, Raymond delivered its sixth consecutive quarter of strong revenue and earnings performance,” Raymond said in its earnings statement.

During the quarter, Raymond recorded a loss of Rs 93.03 crore on unusual items such as expected credit losses on trade receivables, inventory write-down and redundancy compensation. Its profit before special items and taxes was Rs 266.42 crore.

In the March quarter, Raymond’s revenue from the textile segment was Rs 901.79 crore, while from shirts, it was Rs 187.15 crore.

Garment segment revenue was Rs 331.54 crore, while apparel segment revenue was Rs 305.40 crore.

“The Apparel segment reported strong sales in the quarter at Rs 305 crore, up 44%. The growth was driven by continued high demand from existing customers and new customer acquisitions in the US and European markets,” Raymond said.

In the engineering business, Raymond’s tools and hardware business recorded revenue of Rs 115.49 crore, of which auto parts revenue was Rs 103.05 crore.

“Sales in the engineering business grew by 7% to Rs 219 crore in the quarter. The sales performance was mainly driven by growth in key categories in the export market amid a global inflationary environment and was well supported by growth in the domestic market,” it said.

However, its revenue from real estate and property development fell by 9.97% to Rs 289.16 crore in the March quarter.

“Across our three projects in Thane, we received bookings for 300 units worth Rs 473 crore during the quarter,” it said.

Raymond tripled its net profit to Rs 536.96 crore in the financial year ending March 31, 2023. It was at Rs 265.12 crore in FY22.

Its consolidated operating income for FY23 rose 32.95% to Rs 8,214.72 crore from Rs 6,178.51 crore a year ago.

Calling FY23 a “landmark year”, Raymond said it had achieved its “highest ever revenue and EBITDA of Rs 8,337 crore and Rs 1,322 crore, respectively.” “Due to strong momentum and strong performance, Raymond delivered healthy double-digit growth of 31% for the year,” it said.

The statement said it has “substantially” reduced its consolidated net debt by Rs 399 crore to Rs 689 crore as on March 31, 2023.

Meanwhile, in a separate filing, Raymond informed its board of directors on Tuesday to recommend paying a 30% share capital dividend of Rs 3 per share at a face value of Rs 10 for the financial year ending March 31, 2023.

Shares of Raymond Ltd closed at Rs 1,599.55 on the BSE on Tuesday, up 0.81% from the previous close.