Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) shares declined over 6 percent in early trade on Thursday, after brokerages gave the FMCG major mixed ratings post its third quarter results. Godrej on Wednesday reported a 5.11 percent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 445.20 crore in the third quarter ended December, helped by volume growth in domestic business.
The company had posted a net profit of Rs 423.52 crore in October-December quarter a year ago, GCPL said in a BSE filing.
So far this year, GCPL shares have risen just 2 percent, while the one-year performance too has been just half a percent up. Compared to Godrej Consumer, the BSE Sensex has returned over 15 percent.
The 10-year return on Godrej Consumer is over 790 percent. From Rs 117.40 per share on January 29, 2010, the stock hit its lifetime-high price of Rs 978.67 on August 31, 2018. At 11.02 am, Godrej Consumer Products ltd share price quoted at Rs 696.55 apiece, down 6.14 percent. The stock opened at Rs 729 per share and touched the day's low at Rs 694.15.
Global brokerage Credit Suisse has maintained a 'neutral' rating on the GCPL but raised its target to Rs 680 per share from Rs 640 earlier. Credit Suisse noted that the company's India growth remained subdued, however, pace of innovation in H1 was a silver lining.
Morgan Stanley is 'overweight' on the stock with a target at Rs 845 per share as earnings missed estimates on weaker-than-expected revenue growth.
Domestic brokerage Kotak Institutional Equities maintained a 'reduce' call on the stock but raised the target to Rs 720 per share from Rs 715 earlier. Q3 print was weak overall despite sharp pullback in ad spends aiding margin, it said.
GCPL's total income during the quarter under review stood at Rs 2,801.57 crore, 1.99 percent lower as compared with Rs 2,746.65 crore in the year-ago period.
The company's total expenses rose 1.28 percent to Rs 2,244.16 crore as against Rs 2,215.79 crore a year ago.
Commenting on the results, GCPL Executive Chairperson Nisaba Godrej said, "We delivered a steady performance in the third quarter of fiscal year 2020. Our India business delivered a robust volume growth of 7 percent alongside gaining market shares across major categories, amid further deterioration in staples consumption."
GCPL's India revenue rose 1.21 percent to Rs 1,523.87 crore during October-December from Rs 1,505.64 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago.
The company's revenue from Indonesian market rose 13.32 percent to Rs 448.22 crore as compared with Rs 395.51 crore in the year-ago period.
"In our international businesses, Indonesia continued its strong performance with high single digit profitable sales growth driven by a consistent performance across categories and several go-to-market initiatives," Godrej said.
Africa (including Strength of Nature) sales were marginally lower at Rs 678.70 crore as against Rs 682.30 crore a year ago.
"In GAUM (Godrej Africa, USA, Middle East), we saw a sales recovery with higher than mid-single digit constant currency sales growth. The performance was driven by an improved performance in our South and West Africa cluster," she said.
"We continue to drive the scale up of the wet hair care business and the relaunch of the Darling brand in the dry hair category, along with expansion in distribution across GAUM," Godrej added.
Revenue from other markets was 3.23 percent lower at Rs 161.12 crore as against Rs 166.50 crore in October-December a year ago.
The company also informed that its board has declared an interim dividend of Rs 2 per share for financial year 2019-20.
-with inputs from PTI
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