Moneycontrol Bureau
FMCG major Marico said consolidated profit during October-December quarter fell by 6.8 percent year-on-year to Rs 191.64 crore. It was impacted by lower revenue but supported by margin performance.
Revenue during the quarter declined 7.4 percent to Rs 1,416.71 crore on yearly basis hit by price reductions, with domestic volume growth of negative 4 percent due to demonetisation while international business volumes grew 2 percent.
"Northern and eastern parts of India were worst hit due to cash crunch. While there has been some impact on consumption, significant decline is attributed to pipeline reduction across channels. The main impact was in November while December saw some recovery," the company explained impact of demonetisation.
The volume growth was ahead of estimates of negative 5-6 percent. However, the company expects volume growth at 6-8 percent in final quarter of current financial year.
Marico also says it will try to maintain volume growth of 8 percent to 10 percent in medium term.
Operating profit during the quarter slipped 6.1 percent to Rs 272.4 crore but margin expanded by 30 basis points to 19.2 percent due to lower raw material cost and advertising cost.
Marico cut its advertising & sales promotion expenses by 11 percent to Rs 150.8 crore compared with year-ago period.
Topline and bottoline numbers slightly missed estimates while margin and volume were ahead of expectations Profit was estimated at Rs 193.5 crore on revenue of Rs 1,472 crore and operating profit was expected at Rs 275.6 crore with margin at 18.7 percent for the quarter, according to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.
The company reduced prices in Parachute Rigids portfolio on yearly basis in India and Bangladesh consequent to deflation in input cost.
At 15:11 hours IST, the stock was quoting at Rs 255.30, down Rs 2.95, or 1.14 percent on the BSE.
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