Dabur India Q2 consolidate net profit up 7 pc at Rs 403 crore

FMCG major Dabur India Ltd said on Tuesday its consolidated net profit grew 7 per cent to end the July to September quarter at Rs 403 crore as against Rs 377 crore a year earlier.

The net profit was impacted by one-time impairment in value of investments to the tune of Rs 40 crore. Excluding this impairment, the net profit for Q2 of 2019-20 marked a 15.1 per cent growth year-on-year.

At the same time, the company posted a consolidated revenue of Rs 2,212 crore in Q2 of 2019-20, up 4.1 per cent from Rs 2,125 crore a year ago.

The domestic FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) business reported an underlying volume growth of 4.8 per cent during the quarter. Excluding the foods business, domestic FMCG volume growth stood at 7.4 per cent.

"The domestic business continues to face heavy headwinds in the form of a sustained slowdown in demand, aggravated by the liquidity crunch in the market," said Chief Executive Officer Mohit Malhotra.

"Despite a sharp fall in growth rates in most consumer products segments, Dabur continues to focus on brand-building across our key categories while leveraging our strong herbal and Ayurvedic heritage. We also continued to move forward on our distribution expansion strategy in rural India," he said in a statement.

During the second quarter of 2019-20, the company expanded its rural footprint to over 51,000 villages, up from 48,000 villages in June. Riding on this expansion, rural demand continues to grow ahead of urban demand for the company.

The board of directors declared an interim dividend of 140 per cent for 2019-20.

"Continuing with our payout policy, the board has declared an interim dividend of Rs 1.40 per share, aggregating to a total payout of Rs 298.25 crore including tax," said Dabur India Ltd Chairman Amit Burman.

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