Shares of Page Industries slumped 7.47% to Rs 21769.85. The stock traded in the range of Rs 21650 to Rs 22754.80.

A temporary dip in PAT is entirely due to enhanced investments in sales and marketing, people and technology, which would drive sustainable growth in the years to come, the company said.

Revenue from operations jumped 7.51% year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to Rs 793.79 crore in Q3 FY20. The Q3 earnings were announced after market hours yesterday, 13 February 2020.

Profit before tax tanked 28.06% to Rs 116.90 crore Y-o-Y. Tax expenses slumped 49.08% to Rs 30.60 crore during the period under review.

EBITDA dropped 16.5% to Rs 135.30 crore in Q3 FY20 from Rs 162.10 crore in Q3 FY19. EBITDA margin stood at 17% in Q3 FY20 as against 22% in Q3 FY19.

Commenting on the Q3 earnings, Sunder Genomal, the managing director of Page Industries, has said that, “Aware of the robustness of our business and balance sheet, our ethos has always been to remain positive and not allow the short‐term macro situation to lessen our ambitions for the long term. Given the potential market for our products and our confidence that we are best‐positioned to take advantage of this potential, we have always continued to invest in our brands, making ourselvesfuture ready and strengthen the foundation for the company. We continue to expand our capacity in a calibrated manner, modernize our factories to increase productivity and also look at optimizing costs, wherever necessary.”

“We also continue to strengthen the senior management team in key positions. Investments in R&D, Product Development and Innovation, Automation and Digital Transformation are key to our success and we have been scaling up our investments in these areas. We continue to make investments and spend in sales and marketing, particularly at the point‐of‐sale such as display fixtures. We will continue our aggressive expansion plans of new Exclusive Brand Outlets.”

“We believe that these investments are required for ensuring high growth over the next few years. While macro challenges persist, given the robust financial strength of the company, we believe that we can comfortably make these investments for the future, albeit in a calibrated manner. These will pay rich dividends in the form of sustainable high growth and build better value for our stakeholders,” he added.

The board has declared an interim dividend of Rs 58 per equity share. The record date fixed for the payment of interim dividend is 22 February 2020.

Page Industries is engaged in the business of manufacturing and trading of garments. The company offers knitted garments and a range of products for men, women and children. The firm is engaged in the manufacturing, distribution and marketing of Jockey products. It holds license of SPEEDO, an international brand for swim wear.