India's Britannia posts higher quarterly profit aided by price hikes, tax cuts (updated)

Britannia Industries

10/02/2026 13:38

Recasts with details throughout, CEO comment in paragraph 7, Shares in paragraph 11

Feb 10 (Reuters) - Indian biscuit maker Britannia Industries BRIT.NS reported a 17% rise in third-quarter profit on Tuesday, helped by price hikes and tax cuts.

The company, known for its Marie Gold and Good Day brand of biscuits, reported a consolidated net profit of 6.8 billion rupees ($75.12 million) for the quarter ended December 31, up from 5.82 billion rupees a year ago.

Analysts, on average, were expecting a profit of 6.64 billion rupees, according to LSEG data.

In its first earnings since a top management reshuffle in November, Britannia's revenue for the quarter grew 8.2% to 49.7 billion rupees, up from 4% growth in the previous quarter and in line with the 8% growth reported a year earlier.

Britannia and peers ITC ITC.NS, Hindustan Unilever HLL.NS and Dabur DABU.NS have been seeing a gradual recovery in demand, after several quarters of pressure, aided by the tax cuts and slowing inflation.

The goods and services (GST) reductions, which came into effect at the end of September, have helped lift sales of Indian consumer firms during the reported quarter.

The earnings underscore a healthy return to growth driven by strong momentum across both the biscuits and adjacent categories, alongside a relatively stable commodity environment, Managing Director and CEO Rakshit Hargave said in a statement.

        The company's margins have been under pressure over the last few quarters due to sustained inflation in the prices of key commodities such as palm oil, cocoa and sugar.

Compared to its overall sales growth, Britannia has also been seeing faster growth in categories such as wafers, croissants and cakes driven by online delivery platforms.

It also took a one-time charge of 485.6 million rupees tied to the country's new labour codes during the quarter.

Shares of the company closed 0.5% up ahead of the results.

($1 = 90.5240 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Komal Salecha in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

 ((Komal@thomsonreuters.com;))