Godrej Consumer Products Registers 3.2& Decline in Profit Amid COVID-19

FMCG major Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) reported a 3.12 per cent decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 394.88 crore in the first quarter ended June 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic related disruptions in the market.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 407.60 crore in April-June quarter a year ago, GCPL said in a BSE filing.

Net sales were marginally lower at Rs 2,311.17 crore as against Rs 2,330.59 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago.

GCPL's total expenses declined 2.16 per cent to Rs 1,952.31 crore as against Rs 1,995.56 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Commenting on the results, GCPL Chairperson and Managing Director Nisaba Godrej said, "This quarter was tough due to the challenges we faced with lockdowns across geographies and the ensuing supply-side issues." However, the company was agile in resolving supply chain challenges, she said.

"We also scaled up alternate channels, reduced our new product development cycle time from months to weeks. We launched 45 products this quarter, our most ever, and learnt how to do things better and faster because of the constraints placed on us," she added.

GCPL's India revenue rose 4.96 per cent to Rs 1,380.65 crore in April-June period as against Rs 1,315.36 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Revenue from Indonesian market rose 9.02 per cent to Rs 405.64 crore as compared with Rs 372.07 crore in the year-ago period.

"From a country perspective, both India and Indonesia (which contributed to over 76 per cent of overall sales) showed resilient growth at 5 per cent each. Our Africa, USA and Middle East business had a degrowth of 23 per cent in constant currency terms," Godrej said.

GCPL's revenue from Africa (including Strength of Nature) market fell 22.22 per cent to Rs 437.33 crore as against Rs 562.30 crore a year ago.

"Our Africa, USA and Middle East cluster delivered a weak performance due to disruptions across countries, following the COVID-19 outbreak. Constant currency sales declined by 23 per cent. South Africa recorded positive sales growth, while performance in Kenya and USA was weak," it said.

Revenue from other regions was down 2.71 per cent to Rs 127.29 crore in April-June as against Rs 130.84 crore a year ago.

On the outlook, Godrej said, "Going forward, we are focusing our efforts on where the demand is - in household insecticides, hygiene, and Value For Money. We have several new launches, strongly price enabled, across geographies.

"It is not just our categories; our channels too are seeing a shift, and we will be doubling down on digitisation and platforms like e-commerce and chemists." GCPL is also ramping up supply chain operations and distribution, in line with prescribed safety measures and easing of lockdowns in various countries.

Shares of Godrej Consumer Products Ltd on Tuesday closed 2.12 per cent lower at Rs 683.50 on the BSE.