India’s Honasa Consumer surges 20% as Q2 profit nearly doubles

BENGALURU (Reuters) -Shares of Honasa Consumer jumped 20% on Thursday, a day after the parent of beauty-and-personal care products maker Mamaearth reported a quarterly profit surge.

Honasa’s shares hit the upper circuit at 423.75 rupees, as of 10:02 a.m. IST.

Honasa’s profit for the quarter ending Sept.30 nearly doubled to 294.4 million rupees ($3.54 million) from a year ago, led by strong volume growth and higher margins.

Core profit margins rose to 8.1% from 6.4% a year ago, while sales volumes jumped 21%.

“Honasa Consumer has been a notable outlier among digital-first beauty and personal care brands in India, expect sector-leading revenue growth with improving profitability,” Jefferies analysts said in a note, retaining their “buy” rating.

About 9 million shares changed hands in early trade compared with average of 6.2 million shares so far this month.

Earlier this month, Honasa’s $204.3 million IPO was oversubscribed 7.6 times and the stock has jumped over 24% since listing on Nov. 7.

($1 = 83.2440 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Sethuraman NR in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)

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