Mauritius-based clothing firm CIEL Textiles witnessed double-digit growth in first quarter profits as a result of good order books, improved international operations and rise in in seasonal sales of knitwear. Whilst all clusters and countries contributed positively to this year’s result, most of its profitability was generated from its international operations.
Despite not very supportive economic environment, CIEL Textile Limited (“CTL’’) managed to grow its profitability by 12.2 per cent to 171.821 million rupees in the first quarter of FY 2013-14 ended September 30, 2013, driven by international operations and surge in seasonal sales of knitwear.
In the first three months of fiscal 2012-13, CTL, the supplier to British clothing retailers Marks and Spencer, Next and Zara, posted a net profit of 153.374 million rupees.
CIEL Textile exports approximately 60 per cent of its production to Europe, 25 per cent together to India and South Africa and 15 per cent to USA. The improvement in global operation gives an indication that company’s “Internationalisation Strategy” has started to pay off and continuous progress is being achieved on internal operational excellence of most of its operations in Mauritius, Madagascar and India.
The world’s second largest woolmark knitwear supplier reported a sales growth of 11.78 per cent as revenue reached 2,770.98 million rupees in the first quarter of the current financial year from 2,478.78 million rupees in the same period a year ago.
CIEL Textiles’ impressive earnings growth comes even when its operational units in Madagascar was affected by a prolonged political turmoil in the Indian Ocean island.
Commenting on earnings, Ciel Textiles said it expected profit growth to be sustained throughout the first quarter of the financial year, thanks to good order books and improved operational efficiencies. At the same time, company said it is closely monitoring the political situation in Madagascar.
The company is hoping that its healthy order-books and superior operational capacities will help CTL in posting solid revenue growth in the first half of the fiscal year.
