India's Marico beats quarterly profit view as Parachute oil maker sees strong demand (updated)

Marico

04/08/2026 11:20

Adds background in paragraphs 3 and 8, sales volume in paragraph 6, shares in paragraph 7
Aug 4 (Reuters) - Indian consumer goods maker Marico MRCO.NS reported quarterly profit above market expectations on Tuesday, helped by steady demand and lower prices of a key raw material.
Rising incomes and a growing appetite for branded cooking and hair oils, packaged foods including 4700BC popcorn and Saffola oats, and personal care products have supported demand for India's packaged consumer goods.

        While the Middle East war has pushed the cost of crude-linked raw materials up, Marico said last month prices of copra, or dried coconut kernel, a key raw material for the company, were 45% below their peak during the months between April and June.
The Parachute oil maker posted a 25% increase in profit to 6.3 billion rupees ($66.1 million) for the first quarter ended June 30, beating analysts' estimates of 5.8 billion rupees, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Revenue rose 23% to 39.57 billion rupees, also above analysts' estimates of 39.02 billion rupees.
Sales volume in India, which accounts for three-fourths of Marico's business, climbed 11%, its highest in 20 quarters.
Shares of Marico closed nearly 1% lower ahead of results, trimming their gains so far this year to around 17%.
Meanwhile, rival AWL Agri Business AWLA.NS last week reported a 48% jump in quarterly profit and 7% growth in sales volume, also benefiting from strong demand for packaged foods and cooking oil.

($1 = 95.3775 Indian rupees)

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