Marico declines 7% as consumption slowdown hits domestic biz in Q2

Shares of Marico slipped up to 7.3 per cent to Rs 362.35 on the BSE on Tuesday on tepid growth in the September quarter of FY20. Despite a 17 per cent rise in the net profit, weakness in the domestic business dented sentiment.

The fast moving consumer goods (FMCG)-major reported a 3 per cent year-on-year (YoY) decline in the domestic business turnover at Rs 1,398 crore due to "an accelerated slowdown in consumption". READ REPORT HERE

"While offtakes in some of the key categories declined during the quarter, Marico offtake growths were ahead of the category growths in these segments, leading to market share gains. In the traditional channel, constrained liquidity ailed both the urban and rural segments leading to correction in trade inventories," the company said in a statement.

Sales of Parachute Rigids declined by 1 per cent, value added hair oils was flat in volume terms, while Male Grooming declined marginally during the quarter, the company added.

"The company had a soft second quarter in the face of a challenging liquidity and consumption environment in the domestic market, especially in rural, while the international business provided some respite on the back of a robust performance in Bangladesh," it said.

The company’s International business reported 8 per cent value growth and 9 per cenr in constant currency terms led by broad based growth in Bangladesh of 15 per cent in constant currency while in remaining markets it had a flat quarter, the financial statements of the company show.

"The company had a challenging quarter for domestic business, impacted by low consumption environment. Low input prices led to strong gross margin expansion, expected to have better margins in the near term also... Going forward, company’s distribution expansion and rejig distribution channel with improvement in demand scenario on the back of government initiatives will drive the growth," analysts at Narnolia said in a earnings update.

Overall, however, the manufacturer of Parachute Coconut Oil and Saffola Refined Oil reported a 17 per cent YoY growth in PAT at Rs 253 crore. Revenue growth was flat at Rs 1,864 crore YoY, while EBITDA grew 16 per cent to Rs 353 crore. EBITDA margin expanded by 270 basis points to 19.3 per cent in the recently concluded quarter. The FMCG major forecast its EBITDA margin at 20 per cent plus in the India business over the medium term.

"The company expects mid single digit growth from India business in 2H if consumption improves," the managemenr said in an analysts' call.

At 10:20 am, the stock was trading 6.9 per cent lower at Rs 364.8 apiece. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was ruling 0.73 per cent higher at 39,583 level. A total of 3.57 million shares changed hands on the NSE and BSE till the time of writing of this report. Nifty FMCG index was trading 0.24 per cenr lower, led by Marico, Emami, United Breweries, and Dabur.