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Indian consumer products maker Marico on Friday said its consolidated third-quarter revenue declined in the low single digits on weaker rural demand, while its profit grew in the low double digits due to lower costs of key raw materials.
The company, which makes personal care products such as Parachute coconut oil, said its domestic volumes grew in low single digits for the quarter ended Dec. 31 from a year ago.
Its Saffola brand of cooking oils, one of Marico's biggest brands, recorded an optically weak quarter due to cautious trade sentiment.
Consumer goods companies such as Marico and Dabur, which have been flagging weaker rural demand due to the impact of higher inflation, reiterated that the trend has still not changed, with rural "offering little to cheer." However, lower input costs will drive robust gross margin expansion and low double-digit operating profit growth for the third quarter, Marico said.
For the quarter ended Sept. 30, Marico had reported profit below estimates, while revenue dropped.
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Marico, which operates in Bangladesh, Vietnam, the Middle East and Africa, also cited significant currency depreciation in select overseas geographies as one of the key factors behind the drop in revenue.
Meanwhile, Godrej Consumer Products said on Friday it expects to deliver, at a consolidated level, mid-single-digit volume growth and double-digit sales growth in constant currency terms, but low-single-digit sales decline in rupee terms.
Dabur on Thursday said it expects mid- to high-single-digit growth in its consolidated revenue for the third quarter, hurt by rural growth lagging urban.
