Dabur India's net profit rises over 8% to ₹494.35 crore in the April-June quarter

The company had posted a consolidated net profit of ₹456.61 crore in the same quarter last fiscal, Dabur India said in a regulatory filing.

Consolidated revenue from operations in the quarter under review was at ₹3,349.11 crore as against ₹3,130.47 crore in the year-ago period, it added.

Total expenses in the quarter were higher at ₹2,835.86 crore as compared to ₹646.69 crore in the corresponding period a year ago.

"Despite a challenging demand environment marked by high food inflation and unemployment rate, Dabur delivered a strong 8.3% growth in operating profit, demonstrating the resilience of its business model," the company said.

The India FMCG business posted a volume growth of 5.2% for the quarter, it added.

"It's been a good start to the new financial year as we drove sequential recovery in volume growth, driven by rural markets to report industry-leading performance across our key verticals. This allowed us to plough higher investments behind our brands to drive market expansion and sustain our growth momentum," Dabur India CEO Mohit Malhotra said.

The company said its media spends grew by 15.4% during the quarter in the consolidated business, thereby allowing it to drive demand during the quarter with key verticals like health supplements, digestives, shampoos, toothpaste, home care and beverages.

"Through disciplined execution of our go-to-market strategy, we continued to capitalise on our brand strength and deepen engagement with our consumers. Our focussed approach towards expanding our rural footprint to over 1.22 lakh villages reaped a rich dividend as rural demand outpaced urban demand by 350 bps during the quarter," Malhotra said.

Dabur said its international business reported an 18.4% growth in constant currency terms, with Egypt reporting a near 64% growth and Nigeria 181%, while Sub-Saharan Africa grew by 21.4% and MENA (Middle East and North Africa) by 13%.