Nestle India falls 5% on profit booking post June quarter results

The stock slipped 5% to Rs 10,209 on the BSE in noon deal on profit booking after the company reported 50% jump in its net profit at Rs 3.95 billion in June quarter.

Shares of Nestle India have slipped 5% to Rs 10,209 per share on the BSE in intra-day deal on profit booking after the company reported 50% jump in its net profit at Rs 3.95 billion in June quarter (Q2CY18), on double digit volume growth. The fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company had profit of Rs 2.63 billion in the same quarter year ago.

Total sales (Rs 26.79 billion) and domestic sales (Rs 25.07 billion) for the quarter were increased by 8.5% and 8.0% respectively. The growth rates are adversely impacted due to lower reported sales by the change in structure of indirect taxes and reduction in realisations to pass on the GST benefits.

“On a comparable basis, domestic sales growth is 'estimated' at 14.5% supported by increase in volumes on a base impacted by softer trading ahead of the rollout of Goods and Services Tax (GST),” Nestle India said in a press release.

Analysts on an average had expected net profit of Rs 3.77 billion on sales of Rs 27.24 billion for the quarter.

Commenting on the results, Suresh Narayanan, Chairman and Managing Director, Nestle India said, "The market momentum continued to be favorable and I am pleased that we have sustained our broad based volume growth across categories. There is an improvement in margins due to favorable cost of commodities and cost efficiency programs. However, we are now witnessing headwinds in commodity prices."

Since February 9, 2018, Nestle India had outperformed the market by surging 55% from Rs 6,959 (its lowest level in 2018) to Rs 10,755 on Thursday. On comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 9% during the period till yesterday.

At 03:20 PM; the stock was trading 3.7% lower at Rs 10,357 against 1% rise in the benchmark index. A combined 171,990 equity shares changed hands on the counter on the BSE and NSE so far.