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BENGALURU (Reuters) - India's Raymond Ltd reported a 40% rise in its first-quarter adjusted profit on Tuesday, helped by strength in its real estate and engineering business as it shifted away from its once mainstay textiles and apparel businesses.
The nearly 100-year-old conglomerate has been going through a major shift in its businesses that started with selling its consumer goods business, including brands such as Park Avenue deodorant and Kamasutra condoms, early last year to spinning off its textiles and apparel business in the latest quarter.
The realty business, which accounted for just roughly 53% of Raymond's revenue in the quarter, will also be spun off, which will leave Raymond Ltd with just its engineering business.
Sales in the engineering business, which includes making automotive and aerospace parts, doubled in the quarter, while real estate sales surged 108%.
That helped Raymond's adjusted profit before tax to rise to 920 million rupees (nearly $11 million) in the April-to-June quarter from 660 million rupees last year.
Raymond said it expects the lifestyle business to be listed on the stock exchanges this quarter and has started the process of spinning off its realty business.
Once done, Raymond Ltd, Raymond Lifestyle and Raymond Realty be part of the broader Raymond Group. ($1 = 83.9051 Indian rupees)
(This story has been refiled to add the dropped word 'leave,' in paragraph 3)
(Reporting by Indranil Sarkar and Ashna Teresa Britto in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)