Marico, Godrej Consumer may see revenue decline in Q4 due to lockdown

Marico said it would see a "modest decline" in its Ebitda for the March quarter due to an unfavourable product mix

Consumer goods majors Marico and Godrej Consumer Product (GCPL) said in their latest quarterly updates that they would see a sharp revenue decline in the January-March period due to the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent national lockdown.

Marico said it would see a “modest decline” in its earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) for the March quarter due to an unfavourable product mix, led by high sales in edible oil and food products under Saffola, while other categories were muted in terms of sales.

Marico and GCPL join Bengaluru-based Titan to give an indication of their financial performance for the January-March period before formal announcement of their fourth quarter results. “In the India business, early signs of improvement across categories were seen until early March, but disruptions occured in the past 12 days,” Marico said.

GCPL said its India demand was steady until the outbreak of the coronavirus. “However, demand slumped because of the disruption in both back end and front end supply chain in the past 12 days of March. We are awaiting data on the stock levels on general trade shelves,” the firm said. GCPL also said it saw a “gradual bounce back” in the near term driven by restoration of the supply chain, higher consumption for personal wash and a favourable season for household insecticides.

“In line with the directives from the government authorities, production continues at a much reduced scale, while deploying highest safety standards,” Marico said.

Currently, production is suspended at the company’s other manufacturing units and shall commence only after the government gives approval to this effect,” Marico said.