BENGALURU (Reuters) – Indian consumer goods maker Marico said on Wednesday its revenue for the second quarter dipped as rising food prices and below-normal rainfall distribution delayed recovery in rural demand.
Revenue in the quarter was marginally lower on a year-on-year basis, dragged by pricing corrections in key domestic portfolios over the last 12 months, which will progressively come into the base going ahead, Marico said.
The company’s consolidated revenue from operations rose 3.2% to 24.96 billion rupees in the same quarter last year.
Marico, in its quarterly update, added that consumption trends are expected to improve in the second half of the fiscal year amid signs of cooling inflation, healthy sowing season, easing liquidity pressures and government spending.
While international business delivered double-digit constant currency growth during the quarter, currency depreciation in some of its overseas markets also had an adverse effect on the segment.
The Mumbai-based company said that domestic volumes during the three months to September grew in low-single digits, with low-single digits volume growth seen in its Parachute coconut oil and Saffola edible oil businesses.
Marico’s shares closed down 0.84% ahead of the update.
(Reporting by Ashish Chandra in Bengaluru; editing by Eileen Soreng)