FMCG major Marico said it has made a provision of Rs 104 crore towards impairment of investment made for the acquisition of a ‘youth portfolio’ in 2012.
“The company has made an assessment of the fair value of investment made in its subsidiary, Marico Consumer Care Ltd (MCCL), towards the acquisition of the youth portfolio in 2012.
“During the quarter and year ended March 31, 2018, the company has made a provision of Rs 104 crores towards impairment of investment made in MCCL, after taking into account the past business performance, prevailing business conditions and revised expectations of the future performance,” Marico was quoted by PTI as saying.
According to a PTI report: In 2012, Marico had acquired personal care brands such as Set Wet and Zatak, and hair lotion brand Livon from Reckitt Benckiser which the company calls its youth portfolio.
Marico’s youth brands portfolio includes categories such as hair gels, deodorants, hair gain tonic and leave-in serums.
Marico has reported a 7.19 percent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 183.2 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2018.
The company had reported a net profit of Rs 170.91 crore in the January-March quarter a year-ago.
Marico’ total income during the quarter under review stood at Rs 1502.97 crore. It was at Rs 1344.43 crore for the corresponding quarter of last fiscal.
During the quarter, the company reported revenue from operations at Rs 1,480 crore , up 12 per cent year-on-year.
“The India business volumes grew by a modest 1 per cent, while the international business posted a very healthy constant currency growth of 16 percent (volume growth of 5 percent),” the company was quoted by PTI as saying.
“Value growth in the India business was led by price hikes in the coconut oil portfolio. Gross margins continued to remain under pressure owing to the unrelenting inflation in copra prices against a benign input cost environment in the base quarter,” it was further quoted by PTI as saying.
Sharing outlook for the current fiscal, Marico said there have been early signs of a revival in rural (market), as it outpaced urban growth in the last three quarters of fiscal 2017-18.
“We expect the government’s spending plans to bolster rural development and raising of minimum support prices of crops to help regain the momentum in rural demand in the medium term. Normal monsoons, as recently forecast, would be critical for a pickup in overall sentiment and demand growth in rural areas,” it was quoted by PTI as saying.
For the year ended March 31, 2018, Marico reported a net profit of Rs 827.45 crore against that of Rs 810.97 crore in 2016-17.
Marico’s total income in the full financial year was at Rs 6,417.72 crore as against Rs 6,033.23 crore in 2016-17.
