Godrej Consumer Products manages to sustain volume growth

Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL) on Monday said it witnessed a relatively mixed demand across geographies where it has operations. In India, demand conditions continued to be challenging, impacted by a general slowdown in consumption.

The company informed the exchanges in a statement that its volume growth was higher than mid-single digit in the December quarter despite challenging demand conditions. The company had posted a volume growth of 7% in the domestic market for the quarter ended September 2019. The company witnessed good recovery in Africa, the US and the West Asia.

“The uplift in volume growth was led by a gradual recovery in household insecticides, new product launches, effective marketing campaigns and tactical consumer offers,” the company said. It expects a gradual improvement in demand in the quarters ahead, driven by a good monsoon and government measures.

The quarterly update came days after Marico sounded caution saying its domestic business had suffered a marginal decline in volume growth for the quarter ended December. Marico posted a volume growth of 1% in the quarter ended September. Category growths across personal care remained under pressure, while foods and allied categories fared relatively better, according to Marico press release.

During the December quarter, Godrej Consumer Products witnessed mixed demand across geographies. While the Africa, the US and the Middle East region (GUAM) saw a good recovery with higher than mid-single digit sales growth, some countries in Latin America such as Argentina might post a subdued performance, according to the press release. Performance in Saarc countries was robust, the release said.

In Indonesia, the mosquito-repellent maker recorded high-single digit sales growth. The growth was mainly aided by an improving demand environment in home and personal care space, the company said.

Source: Financial Express