India's Colgate-Palmolive quarterly profit declines on slowing urban demand
May 21 (Reuters) - Colgate Palmolive India COLG.NS posted a drop in fourth-quarter profit on Wednesday, as sales slowed down on softening urban demand and intensified competition.
The toothpaste maker's net profit fell 6.5% to 3.55 billion Indian rupees ($41.51 million) in the quarter ended March 31.
Revenue from operations declined nearly 2% to 14.52 billion rupees. Expenses, meanwhile, were largely flat year-on-year.
For further earnings highlights, click here
KEY CONTEXT
The local arm of Colgate-Palmolive CL.N, known for its eponymous range of Colgate toothpastes, has been grappling with sluggish urban demand for its oral care products.
Consumer demand in rural regions has outpaced urban areas for more than a year now, helped by state-run support schemes and a strong harvest, while city-dwellers face slowing wage growth.
The company pointed to a "challenging operating environment" in the second half of fiscal 2025, which runs from April 2024 to March 2025. Its marketing and promotional expenses rose year-on-year in the fourth quarter, amid higher competition with other players.
Colgate expects a gradual recovery in market conditions in the second half of the year.
PEER COMPARISON
Valuation (next 12 months) | Estimates (next 12 months) | Analysts' sentiment | ||||||||
RIC | PE | EV/EBITDA | Price/Sales | Revenue growth (%) | Profit growth (%) | Mean rating* | No. of analysts | Stock to price target | Div yield (%) | |
Colgate-Palmolive (India) | COLG.NS | 44.55 | 31.94 | NULL | 8.09 | 8.90 | Hold | 28 | 0.93 | 1.90 |
Godrej Consumer Products | GOCP.NS | 53.08 | 36.92 | 8.25 | 9.32 | 22.59 | Buy | 33 | 0.93 | 1.59 |
Hindustan Unilever | HLL.NS | 50.15 | 34.64 | 8.45 | 5.13 | 4.95 | Buy | 18 | 0.93 | 1.84 |
Dabur India | DABU.NS | 40.80 | 31.91 | 6.28 | 7.71 | 10.10 | Hold | 39 | 0.92 | 1.16 |
The mean of analyst ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell
The ratio of the stock's last close to analysts' mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT
JANUARY-MARCH STOCK PERFORMANCE
-- All data from LSEG
-- $1 = 85.5270 Indian rupees
($1 = 85.5270 Indian rupees)
COLG Q4
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