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Godrej Consumer expects double-digit revenue decline in March quarter

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Press Trust of India New Delhi

FMCG major Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) on Thursday said its business has been disrupted across the globe due to the Covid-19 crisis and it would report "high teens revenue decline" in the January-March quarter.

Though GCPL witnessed steady demand till mid-March, the lockdown in many geographies resulted in "virtually no sales" in the latter part of the month, thus significantly impacting sales performance for the quarter.

In the domestic market, it has witnessed a double-digit decline in the performance of its distributors and is awaiting data on the stock levels on general trade shelves, GCPL said in a Quarterly Update 4Q FY20'.

 

"In India, demand was steady till the outbreak of Coronavirus and slumped due to disruption of both back end and front end supply chain in the last twelve days of March. March also happens to be the start of the season for a few of our categories like soaps and household insecticides.

"Consequently, we will report around high teens revenue decline in the quarter," said GCPL.

In the international segment, the Godrej Group firm expects to record "around mid single digit sales decline" in rupee terms, resulting in "consolidated sales declining around low double digit in INR terms for the quarter".

GCPL gets around half of its revenue from the foreign markets.

In these tough times, GCPL also worked on launching hygiene products across geographies, some of which have been executed and the rest will get launched and scaled up in the near term, it added.

The company has faced challenges regarding manufacturing and supply.

"We believe there should be a gradual bounce back in the near term driven by restoration of the supply chain, higher consumption for Personal Wash and an ongoing favourable season for Household Insecticides," it said.

GCPL further said it has "continued to gain market shares across key categories of operations".

"In Indonesia, we recorded close to mid single digit constant currency sales growths, in spite of disruptions caused by Coranavirus. The country is following extreme social distancing practices as of now. "In GAUM (Godrej Africa, USA, Middle East), we recorded a decline in teens, in constant currency terms, amidst disruptions caused by Coranavirus in many of our countries of operations," it said.

Most of the big sized markets are in lockdown or partial lockdown mode till mid-April.

"Within the others' geographies, the performance in Latin America is expected to be steady in constant currency terms. However, in INR terms we expect the performance to be muted. Performance in SAARC countries was steady," it said.

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First Published: Apr 09 2020 | 9:24 PM IST

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