State-owned Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has cut 2.03 per cent stake in FMCG firm Colgate-Palmolive to bring down its shareholding in the company at 2.98 per cent after selling 27.60 lakh shares in the open market.
LIC, which had 5.01 per cent stake earlier, brought down its shareholding in the company to 2.98 per cent by selling shares between January 16, 2010, and January 28, 2015, Colgate-Palmolive said in a filing to the BSE.
During the third quarter ended December 31, 2014, the company posted a 16 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 130.86 crore and net sales of Rs 988.56 crore, up 11.83 per cent as compared to the same period of the previous financial year.
The company posted a volume growth of 5 per cent for the quarter on toothpaste and continued to enhance its leadership position in toothpaste category by registering a market share of 56.7 per cent in 2014, an increase of 0.8 per cent over the same period of the previous year, it said.
The flagship brands 'Colgate Dental Cream', 'Active Salt', 'Max Fresh' and 'Colgate Total' along with 'Visible White' have contributed to growth.
Shares of Colgate-Palmolive closed at Rs 1,894.15 apiece, down 1.38 per cent from its previous close on the BSE.
