Dabur India beats profit estimates on higher demand for household products (updated)

Colgate-Palmolive (India)

02/11/2023 10:01

(Adds background, details on sales, shares)
       CHENNAI, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Consumer goods maker Dabur
India  DABU.NS  reported second-quarter profit above market
expectations on Thursday, benefiting from rising demand in its
household and personal care and healthcare segments.
    The company's consolidated net profit rose 5% to 5.15
billion Indian rupees ($61.89 million) for the quarter ended
Sept. 30, from 4.9 billion rupees a year earlier.    
    Analysts, on average, expected a profit of 5.13 billion
rupees, according to LSEG data.
    Increasing demand for personal care products and stiff
competition has prompted major consumer goods makers from
Colgate-Palmolive India  COLG.NS  to Dabur to launch new
products, including toothpaste variants.
    Revenue from operations climbed 7.3% to 32.04 billion
rupees.
    In its quarterly update last month, Dabur said its
healthcare as well as household and personal care businesses -
housing products ranging from Vatika shampoos to its digestive
supplement brand Hajmola - posted a high single-digit percentage
growth in India.
    The household and personal care segment accounted for more
than 50% of Dabur India's sales. India also makes up roughly
three-fourths of the company's topline.
    The jury, however, is out on natural healthcare products,
with a few medical professionals questioning their safety and
efficiency on social media platforms, including X, formerly
called Twitter. Dabur subsidiaries were also sued in the U.S.
and Canada.
    After a lacklustre quarter for the consumer goods industry,
analysts expect sales volumes to recover in the second half of
fiscal 2024 on expectations of a pickup in farm incomes - which
will boost rural demand - and signs of cooling inflation. 
    Dabur shares rose more than 2% after reporting results,
trimming their year-to-date decline to nearly 6%, while the
Nifty FMCG index climbed nearly 17% this year.

($1 = 83.2170 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam in Chennai; Editing by Sonia
Cheema and Janane Venkatraman)
 ((Praveen.Paramasivam@thomsonreuters.com; +91 867-525-3569;))