Demand trends remained sluggish in Q4, but rural consumption picked up: Dabur
Dabur India on Thursday said it expects its consolidated revenue to clock midsingledigit growth for March quarter of FY24. In its quarterly update, the FMCG major said that demand trends remained sluggish during the quarter under review, but rural consumption picked up on the back of price cuts in staples. This, it said, has led to “narrowing” of the gap in rural and urban growth rates.
“With a positive outlook for the rabi crop harvest and monsoon forecast to be normal, we expect consumption to pick up in the coming months,” Dabur India said in a BSE filing.
With deflation in input costs and the company’s costsaving inputs, the gross margins are likely to continue to witness expansion, it said. It will also see higher advertising and promotion spends.
Rural consumption picked up on the back of price cuts in staples
“The operating profit is expected to grow slightly ahead of the revenue and post an improvement in yoy operating margins,” Dabur India added.
BADSHAH ACQUISITION
“Dabur’s consolidated revenue is expected to register midsingledigit growth during Q4 FY24. The inorganic revenue growth, which was to the extent of around 2.3 per cent till December 2023 on account of Badshah acquisition, is now factored in the base,” it added.
The company expects home and personal care segment to report a growth in high singledigits for Q4 FY24, but healthcare and food & beverage portfolio is expected to register “lowsingledigit growth”.
While delayed winter impacted the healthcare portfolio, food & beverage segment witnessed a high base in the corresponding quarter in the previous fiscal. Meanwhile, Badshah Masala is expected to continue to post a strong volumeled growth in high teens. “We continued to gain market share across our categories driven by strong execution in market,” the FMCG company added.
International business is expected to register doubledigit growth in constant currency terms, led by good momentum in MENA region, Egypt and Turkey. “However, due to impact of currency depreciation in Turkey and Egypt, the translated revenue in INR terms will show growth in mid singledigits,” it added.