Dabur may hike product prices by up to 5%

FMCG firm Dabur today said it is looking at further hiking the prices of some of its products between 3-5 per cent to offset the surging input costs.

"We are watching right now ... If there is no ease in the inflation, we will look at increasing the prices of some of the categories," Dabur India Chief Executive Officer Sunil Duggal told PTI.

Asked by how much the company is likely to increase rates, he said the price change could vary between 3 per cent and 5 per cent.

Food inflation rose to 17.65 per cent for the week ended April 10 from 17.22 per cent in the previous week due to higher prices of fruit and vegetables.

Duggal, however, did not give details on which products and by when the price increase would take place. The company has already increased prices of its hair oil by about 4-5 per cent this month.

The company, which today posted a 29.7 per cent growth in net profit to Rs 135.28 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2010, said it will continue to expand its retail footprint in the rural areas to maintain its volume growth.

"Dabur is now putting in place several initiatives to further expand its rural India footprint. The inflationary pressures notwithstanding, we remain on course to strengthen our brand portfolio and improve our competitiveness in the market place," he said.

For the financial year ended March 31, 2010, Dabur had reported a net profit of Rs 503.53 crore, an increase of 28.7 per cent over the Rs 391.21 crore profit reported in the previous fiscal.

The company¿s consolidated income for the 2009-10 fiscal stood at Rs 3,390.9 crore, up 19.6 per cent from Rs 2,834.11 crore in the previous fiscal.

"Aggressive cost management initiatives helped Dabur expand EBITDA margins for the consolidated business by 150 bps. The company continues to register sales growth...And this growth is almost entirely volume-driven," Duggal said.

 Besides, the company announced the appointment of S Raghunathan as the new Chief Financial Officer with effect from May 1, 2010. 

 "Raghunathan will succeed Rajan Varma, who will retire from Dabur later this month," Dabur said in a statement.

Prior to joining Dabur, Raghunathan was the CFO at Raymonds. He has also earlier worked with Hindustan Unilever Ltd and Sundaram Finance.