GCPL Profit Up 13.5% to Rs 491 Crore in Q2

New Delhi, Oct 24 (PTI) FMCG major Godrej Consumer Products Ltd on Thursday reported a 13.52 per cent rise in its consolidated net profit to Rs 491.31 crore in the September quarter, helped by volume growth in the domestic market and Indonesia.

It had posted a net profit of Rs 432.77 crore in the July-September quarter a year ago, according to a regulatory filing by Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL).

GCPL is the FMCG arm of Godrej Industries Group.

Revenue from the sale of products of the Godrej group FMCG arm grew 2.2 per cent to Rs 3,647.11 crore during the quarter under review. It was Rs 3,568.36 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.

GCPL's total expenses in the September quarter were marginally up at Rs 3,039.88 crore.

The total revenue of GCPL, which owns brands such as Good Knight, Cinthol and HIT, rose 2.3 per cent to Rs 3,752.32 crore in the September quarter.

GCPL's revenue from the domestic market climbed 6.1 per cent to Rs 2,300.65 crore in the second quarter compared to Rs 2,168.21 crore a year ago.

Its Managing Director and CEO Sudhir Sitapati said: "GCPL has had a steady quarter given the headwinds of oil costs and tough consumer demand in India. Our standalone business grew by 7 per cent in both volume and value and flat reported EBITDA."

GCPL's standalone EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) margin of 24.3 per cent is at the lower end of our targeted band and is caused entirely by high inflation on palm oil, which was further exacerbated by the import duty on oil.

"We think this is a short-term hit and we will recover the margins through judicious price increase and stabilising of costs," he said.

Similarly, revenue from GCPL's second biggest market Indonesia, increased 8.63 per cent to Rs 513.81 crore. It was Rs 472.96 crore in the year-ago period.

Indonesia market continued its "steady performance" with a 7 per cent rise in volume and 17 per cent EBITDA growth, Sitapati said.

GCPL's revenue from Africa, including Strength of Nature, market declined 21 per cent to Rs 644.56 crore in the September quarter.

"GAUM (Godrej Africa, USA, and Middle East) continued to have a weak topline quarter but an exceptional bottom-line quarter. While organic volumes declined by 8 per cent and value declined by 10 per cent, reported EBITDA grew by 33 per cent," he said.

However, GCPL's revenue from other markets was 35.85 per cent higher at Rs 247.58 crore in Q2FY25.

"While the overall quarter was 5 per cent organic UVG, 5 per cent organic USG and 8 per cent reported EBITDA, the topline performance in Asia and the bottom-line performance in our international businesses have been encouraging," Sitapati said, adding that "High-single digit volume growth during a period of low soap volume growth is testimony to the increasing strength of the rest of our portfolio."

GCPL Air Care business in which it sells sprays, air fresheners and diffusers under the brand name Aer, continued growth and its laundry, incense sticks and sexual wellness (Park Avenue and KamaSutra brands acquired from Rayond) rapidly scaled up.

Meanwhile, in a separate filing, GCPL said its board in a meeting held on Thursday declared an interim dividend of 500 per cent, which is Rs 5 per share of face value of Re 1 each for the financial year 2024-25.

Shares of Godrej Consumer Products Ltd settled 2.55 per cent lower at Rs 1,259.15 apiece on the BSE.