Godrej Consumer Falls Nearly 9% On Q4 Update

Shares of Godrej Consumer Products Ltd fell as much as 8.75 percent to Rs 543.05 on NSE in early trade on Monday. The decline was in reaction to the company's March quarter update where it said that it expects to report "around high teens revenue decline in the quarter" due to "around low double digit" decline in consolidated sales in INR terms for the period.

Godrej Consumer Products: Quotes, News

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"We had witnessed steady demand in our categories till mid March 2020. However, with the adherence to social distancing norms and the eventual lockdown in many geographies of our operations resulted in virtually no sales in the later part of March, significantly impacting our sales performance in the quarter," it said in a stock exchange filing on Thursday, after market hours.

The Indian stock markets were closed on 10 April on account of Good Friday.

"In India, demand was steady till the outbreak of Coronavirus and slumped due to disruption of both back end and front end supply chain in the last twelve days of March," it said, adding "consequently, we will report around high teens revenue decline in the quarter. We did see low double digit sales decline in the performance of our distributors, implying that their stock levels are getting depleted. We are awaiting data on the stock levels on general trade shelves."

However, it further said that it expects a gradual bounce back in the near term driven by restoration of the supply chain, higher consumption for Personal Wash and an ongoing favourable season for Household Insecticides.

"International business is expected to record around mid single digit sales decline in INR terms
resulting in consolidated sales declining around low double digit in INR terms for the quarter," it said.