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Riding on strong demand across its key categories, calibrated price hikes and stringent cost-saving initiatives, Dabur India Ltd mitigated the impact of rising input costs to end the first quarter of FY12 with a 31.6% rise in consolidated sales. Gross sales for the first quarter stood at Rs.1216.24 crore. This includes income from the recently-acquired Hobi Kozmetik of Turkey and Namasté Laboratories of the US. Gross sales for the same period a year ago stood at Rs.924.38 crore. Net Profit for the first quarter of the new fiscal marked a 19.6% rise to Rs.127.74 crore, up from Rs.106.79 crore a year earlier.

“Dabur has been reporting a strong and consistent performance despite inflation playing truant and competitive pressures intensifying in some key categories. In order to minimize the impact of high input costs, the company has put in place calibrated price hikes. This, combined with our cost management initiatives, helped Dabur record a 27.8% growth in EBITDA during the first quarter,” said Sunil Duggal, CEO, Dabur India Ltd.

While the hair oils category reported 16.1% growth during the first quarter, Dabur’s toothpaste brands continued their run to end the period with a 14.1% growth and 80 bps market share gain. Dabur’s home care business reported another quarter of strong growth with a 24.9% jump, while the foods business posted a robust 31.5% growth during the quarter. The skin care portfolio—on sustained demand for the Fem range and expansion of the Dabur Uveda range of Ayurvedic skin care products— ended the period with a 16.3% growth.

“We’ve significantly enhanced our domestic presence especially in Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns, and are now putting in place measures to further expand Dabur’s rural footprint. This has been accompanied by focused and innovative marketing and promotion strategies,” Duggal said. The quarter also saw Dabur introduce a host of new products like Hajmola Mint Masti (which marked its foray into the mint candy market) and Fem Safe Handz hand sanitiser, besides Hajmola Saunf variant, Glucose Litchi variant and Réal Apricot variant.

Dabur’s international business recorded a strong 98.9% surge during the quarter, led by robust performance in Nigeria, Egypt and GCC and income from the newly acquired overseas companies. “Nigeria reported a strong performance, growing by 33% during the quarter, while the Egypt and GCC businesses grew by 30%. Shampoos, hair creams and toothpastes were the key growth drivers in the international markets,” said P D Narang, Group Director, Dabur India Ltd.

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dabur, fy 12, glucose, hair care, hajmola, Hobi Kozmetik, sales, shampoo, skin