Revival in volumes places Marico in a sweet spot; margins may see pressure

The company continues to focus on protecting and growing our franchise at the cost of short-term profitability

Despite a subdued performance by Marico in the March 2018 quarter (Q4) owing to high copra prices (a key input) and dismal volume growth, the stock is up 8 per cent since May 2, 2018.

What’s mainly making investors confident is an expected recovery in volumes.

Due to a 5 per cent fall in the flagship product, Parachute, and 1 per cent in Saffola, Marico had posted a meagre one per cent rise domestic volumes in Q4 (overall volume growth in FY18 was 1.3 per cent).

However, volumes are likely to ramp up going ahead.

“The company aims to