India's Tata Consumer Products posts strong profit growth on higher demand

Tata Coffee

20/10/2022 12:51

BENGALURU, Oct 20 (Reuters) - India's Tata Consumer
Products Ltd  TACN.NS  reported a bigger-than-expected rise in
quarterly profit on Thursday, helped by higher salt prices and
pent-up demand for everything from mineral water to Starbucks
coffee.
    Discretionary spending has been on the rebound as offices
reopen, dining out picks up and Indians gear up for the first
festive season free of COVID curbs in two years.
    The consumer goods company, which sells the popular Tata
Salt, Himalayan mineral water and runs a joint venture with
Starbucks  SBUX.O  in India, said profit rose 22.4% to 3.28
billion Indian rupees ($39.7 million) in the quarter.
    Analysts on average had expected a profit of 2.78 billion
rupees, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
    "In our other core business of salt, despite significant
inflation-led pricing, we have continued to gain market share,"
Sunil D'Souza, managing director and CEO of Tata Consumer
Products, said in a statement.
    Total revenue from operations rose 10.9% year-on-year to
33.63 billion rupees.
    However, the company's international business was hit by
inflationary pressures and foreign exchange-related headwinds.
    On Monday, Tata Coffee Ltd  TACO.NS , a unit of Tata
Consumer Products, said its consolidated net profit surged
nearly 42% to 1.42 billion rupees in the quarter.
    Tata Consumer Products' shares closed up 0.8% on Thursday to
take their gains to 3.7% for the year.
 
 ($1 = 82.6910 Indian rupees)
 (Reporting by Akansha Victor and Nivedita Bhattacharjee in
Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)
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