Godrej Consumer Products Q3 net grows 23% to Rs 323 cr

Company's consolidated net sales rose 5.7% to Rs 2,353.5 crore

FMCG firm Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) today reported a 23% increase in its consolidated net profit at Rs 323 crore for the third quarter to December, helped by lower costs.

Net profit in the same period a year ago stood at Rs 263.6 crore.

Its consolidated net sales rose 5.7% to Rs 2,353.5 crore as against Rs 2,225.8 crore a year earlier, it said in a BSE filing.

During the quarter, GCPL's India business branded net sales rose 8% to Rs 1,261 crore whereas its international business grew 9% on an organic constant currency basis.

Godrej Group's Chairman Adi Godrej said: "In a challenging operating environment, we have delivered a resilient and competitive performance in third quarter of the current fiscal... Operating earnings growth was ahead of sales growth across most of our geographies, aided by lower commodity costs, calibrated price hikes, stringent cost management and effective leveraging of brand platforms."

He further said: "Over the next few quarters, we will be introducing several exciting new launches to stimulate demand and extend leadership in our core categories. We are also enhancing our go-to-market infrastructure and investing strategically for future."

In a separate filing, GCPL also announced third interim dividend of Rs 1 per share for 2015-16.

The stock was trading 0.56% down at Rs 1,143.75 on BSE.