Ceat reports Q1 profit of Rs 23 crore

The company had reported a net loss of Rs 35 crore for the year-ago period amid massive COVID-led disruptions in the market.

PTI

July 21, 2021 / 20:46 IST

CEAT tyres | File Image

Tyre major Ceat on Wednesday posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 23 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2021. The company had reported a net loss of Rs 35 crore for the year-ago period amid massive COVID-led disruptions in the market.

Revenue from operations rose to Rs 1,906 crore in the first quarter as compared with Rs 1,120 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal year, Ceat said in a statement. It has been a challenging quarter with the second wave of COVID-19 restricting demand and rising input costs affecting margins. However, with progressive drop in COVID cases in the last four weeks and a steady increase of vaccination in the latter part of the quarter, we are witnessing a gradual pick-up in demand from early June in the replacement market and OEMs," Ceat Managing Director Anant Goenka said.

ALSO READ: Ceat ties up with Tata Power to set up captive solar plant for Mumbai facility

The spike in commodity prices has impacted gross margins, which was partially offset by price increases over the last quarter, he added. The company continues to focus on the wellbeing of its employees, manage costs and stay prepared as demand bounces back, Goenka noted.

"Besides the uncertainties of a third wave of COVID infection in the country, we expect to see improving consumer confidence and growth going forward. We will continue to calibrate the market dynamics and align our business plans to the evolving scenario," he added. On a standalone basis, the company's revenue stood at Rs 1,898 crore and net profit at Rs 20 crore in the first quarter.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

Show