This 121 years old company closed 6% higher yesterday on the back of its very good set of numbers. On a 24% (YoY) rise in net sales at Rs.41 crore, driven by good volume growth in OTC business and better pricing power, the company ended the quarter with a net profit at Rs.4 crore, up 33%. Sequentially, Q1 was a very bad quarter and hence lower base effect shows a whopping 18 times jump in bottomline. Its operating costs rise 17% (YoY), led by raw material, 7% jump in employee cost and 17% rise in advertising and sales cost. Interest cost is down 64% though tax outgo doubled up to Rs.2.4 crore.

The company is trying to propel itself further through wider geographical spread and aggressive marketing. With its strength in headache balm, Amrutanjan, the company is now trying to cash-in on its Roll-on format and it plans to market this product pretty strongly this fiscal. Its beverage, Fruitnik is doing better and it reported a 28% jump in revenue. The company has undertaken some restructuring of distribution and this has helped shore up the margins. Fruitnik is currently available in South India and plans to expand it into UP, West Bengal and Maharashtra. The company’s equity is pretty small at Rs.2.92 crore and reserves is at Rs.94 crore.