Dabur India Q1 Results: Margins better estimates; Unseasonal rains impact volumes

Dabur India Ltd.’s June quarter results saw unseasonal rains impact the beverage business. While most other parameters were largely in-line with expectations, margins were better than estimates.Revenue for the quarter increased by 1.7% on a year-on-year basis to ₹3,406 crore, while a CNBC-TV18 poll had projected the figure to be ₹3,420 crore. Excluding the summer-centric products, revenue growth for the quarter would have been 7%.
Excluding the seasonal portfolio, volume growth for the quarter stood at 2%.
Dabur’s Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Deprecation and Amortisation (EBITDA) for the quarter stood at ₹668 crore, marginally higher than the ₹650 crore estimate. On a year-on-year basis, EBITDA was up 2%.
EBITDA margin for the quarter remained unchanged at 19.6%, but was higher than the CNBC-TV18 poll of 19%.Net profit for the period stood at ₹508 crore, in-line with the CNBC-TV18 poll of ₹497 crore.

Here were some of the other highlights for the quarter:

• Digestives portfolio for the quarter grew by 7.7% from last year.
• Home care business grew by 10.1% on a year-on-year basis.
• Skin & Salon portfolio increased by 9.2% from the year-ago period.
• Haircare, Toothpaste businesses saw growth of 7% and 7.3% from last year respectively.
• Domestic Badshah business grew by 6.5% during the quarter, while the international business was up 13.7% in constant currency terms.

Gross margins for the quarter stood at 47%. Dabur’s direct reach increased to 63,000 outlets from last year, taking the total to 1.52 million outlets.Village coverage expanded by around 10,000 villages, taking the total to 1.33 lakh villages.

Shares of Dabur ended 1.4% higher on Thursday, at ₹529.2. The stock is up 10% in the last one month ahead of the results.