Marico logs volume growth, notices revival in consumer demand in September quarter

FMCG major Marico on Monday said it has witnessed a partial revival in the consumer sentiment in the second quarter of the current fiscal after being impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to a PTI report: Marico said although there were intermittent supply chain disruptions across locations due to localised lockdowns, the distribution network has rebounded back to near pre-COVID levels.
“The quarter was characterised by a partial revival of consumer sentiment, which also reflected in the company’s performance across portfolio and channels,” Marico said.
“Rural continued to perform better than urban aided by government’s focused relief packages, relatively lower impact of the pandemic, the resilience of the agricultural sector in a declining GDP context and the consumption shift due to reverse migration of labour,” it said in an update on the operating performance and demand trends in the September 2020 quarter.
Marico said its India business witnessed signs of revival in consumer demand in the core categories contributing more than 90 per cent of the business and registered robust volume growth in the quarter.
“Foods portfolio, riding the tailwind and on the back of innovations, continued its momentum and registered exponential growth in line with the company’s near-term expectations,” the company said.
Marico said during the second quarter of the current fiscal, its international business clocked mid-single digit constant currency growth.
“Bangladesh continued to lead from the front with double digit growth while other markets have shown improvement sequentially,” it added.
During the quarter, the company said it upped the investments behind brand building and advertisement spends were back to pre-COVID levels.
On outlook, Marico said although the key raw materials have seen an inflationary trend towards the end of the quarter, it expects to deliver healthy earnings growth on the back of robust volume growth and a host of cost saving initiatives.
As lockdown restrictions are progressively easing, the company maintains a positive outlook for the rest of the year provided the ongoing health crisis does not escalate further and economic activity revives steadily.