Profit before tax declined 8.6% to Rs 69.89 crore in Q1 FY21 from Rs 76.49 crore in Q1 FY20. Total tax expense fell 44% to Rs 13.4 crore in Q1 June 2020 over Q1 June 2019. Savings on account of reduction in corporate tax rate aided net profit.

Consolidated earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell 6.4% year on year to Rs 91.10 crore in Q1 FY21. EBITDA/MT remained stable at Rs 17,561 for Q1 FY21 as against Rs 17,779 in Q1 FY20.

Commenting on the performance, U. Shekhar, MD Galaxy Surfactants said, “Q1 FY20-21 has been a unique quarter in many ways. The unfortunate incident at our M-3 unit in Tarapur and the sudden imposition of lockdown 1.0 and 2.0, severely impacted the supply side of the business. Be it in terms of people, production or operations, business in India and USA came to a standstill in April and the first half of May. But things are slowly getting back to normalcy. June saw a good pickup and we believe this momentum should continue going ahead, especially for our performance surfactants which grew 7.8% in volume terms for this quarter driven by healthy 10.2% growth registered by the AMET Market. No shutdown in Egypt meant growth momentum continued from Q4 FY19-20 to Q1 FY20-21 Specialty Care products due to the cutback in discretionary consumption and overall slowdown in the developed (ROW) markets saw a decline of 26.2%.”

He further added, “We believe this is a temporary short-term blip and with the revival of the consumption cycle, we do see normalcy returning within the next 6-9 months. India Business while declined 2.3%, a good monsoon followed by pickup in rural consumption along with the growing awareness for hygiene and cleanliness can result in an improved performance going ahead. Though intermittent lockdowns, variability of restrictions and supply side challenges on account of rising COVID cases can delay the recovery. Given the headwinds, ‘agility' and ‘adaptability' will hold the key and given the resilience demonstrated by our business and people over the years, we remain confident of winning together once again. On that optimistic note, we wish you and your families safety and good health.”

Shares of Galaxy Surfactants were down 0.68% at Rs 1755 on BSE. The scrip was traded in the range of Rs 1720 to Rs 1790 so far during the day. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 11 August 2020.

Galaxy Surfactants is leading manufacturers of Performance Surfactants and Specialty Care products with over 200 product grades. These products are used in consumer-centric Home and Personal care .products like hair care, oral care, skin care, cosmetics, soap, shampoo, lotion, detergent, cleaning products etc.