Marico, the indigenous FMCG major, experienced a decline of over 2% in its share price on Monday following the release of its Q1 results.
For the first quarter ending June 30, 2023, Marico Ltd reported a consolidated net profit of ₹436 crore, reflecting a 15% increase compared to ₹377 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. However, the revenue from operations dipped by 3.16% to ₹2,477 crore in Q1FY24 from ₹2,558 crore in the same period last year.
On a positive note, the FMCG major experienced an expansion in gross margin, growing by 494 bps YoY and 257 bps sequentially, mainly due to softer input costs. The EBITDA for the quarter showed growth of 9% to ₹574, and the EBITDA margin expanded by 253 bps YoY, reaching 23.2%.
The Q1 results of Marico were in line with brokerages’ estimates. As a result, various brokerages have given their recommendations on the Marico stock:
ICICI Securities maintained its ‘Add’ rating on the stock and raised the target price to ₹610 per share from ₹560 earlier.
Motilal Oswal Financial Services reiterated its ‘Buy’ rating on the stock and set a target price of ₹690 per share (based on 52xFY25E EPS).
Kotak Institutional Equities maintained a ‘Reduce’ call but raised the target price to ₹550 per share from ₹525 earlier.
Anand Rathi retained its ‘Hold’ rating and increased the 12-month target price to ₹590 per share from ₹545 earlier.
Prabhudas Lilladher raised the target price to ₹581 per share from ₹550 earlier.
The shares of Marico closed at ₹560.55 each on NSE, showing a decline of 2.40% compared to the previous day’s closing price.