Revenue growth to come back in H2, would continue portfolio diversification: Marico MD & CEO
Marico expects revenue growth to come back in the second half of the fiscal and sluggish rural demand to gradually improve, said its Managing Director and CEO Saugata Gupta. It has taken price corrections after softening of inflation in the domestic market in the last two quarters, which has some effects on its revenue growth. However, it has helped it either gain or sustain market share and also increase penetration in some of its portfolio, he added.
In the next two quarters, revenue growth of the company would be in line with volume growth, Gupta told PTI.
«Revenue growth is expected to move into the positive territory in H2 as pricing deflation in the domestic business steadily tapers off. The company has taken price drops in its core brands as Saffola and Parachute,» Gupta added.
Last week, Marico, which owns popular brands like Saffola, Parachute, and Livon, reported 17.2 per cent increase in consolidated net profit for September quarter. However, its revenue from operations marginally reduced to Rs 2,476 crore YoY.
Marico has also reported an underlying volume growth of 3 per cent in the domestic business.
When asked about rural markets, he said it will gradually improve as sentiments are improving.
«One of the good things is that there was some uncertainty due to rainfall in August and it improved significantly in September. Overall, we are also now going to lap a lower base.
So therefore I see the revenue and volume situation both improving,» he said.
Over its food and premium personal care business, which now contributes Marico's 20 per cent of domestic revenue, Gupta said the «diversification journey has worked well» for the company, which was earlier known for its healthy edible and hair oil business.
