FMCG Q4 analysis: Nestle India vs HUL vs ITC vs Britannia India

Four listed FMCG and consumer goods major companies, namely Britannia Industries, ITC Ltd, Hindustan Unilever and Nestle India, have announced their financial results. 

Apart from Nestle India, which follows January-December period as financial year, other three companies posted financial result for Q4FY17. 

As expected, FMCG companies reported muted growth as demonetisation impact still hovers around their margins. 

Here's a look at these companies' performance:

ITC Ltd:  ITC Ltd on Friday announced its financial result for the quarter ended on March 31. The company reported a net profit on Rs 2669.47 crore in Q4FY17, a jump of 12% as against Rs 2380.68 crore during the same period last year. 

The company's Q4 revenue stood at Rs 15,000 crore as against the estimates of Rs 11,850 crore.

From the cigarettes business, in Q4FY17 the standalone net revenue stood at Rs 8954.94 crore as against Rs 8545.46 crore in the previous quarter and Rs 8287.97 crore in Q4FY17, a rise of 8% on yoy basis. 

ALSO READ: ITC's Q4 net profit jumps to Rs 2670 crore; cigarette business revenue up 8%

Britannia India: Britannia Industries posted nearly 6% rise in consolidated net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2017 period. The company registered net profit of Rs 210.91 crore, rising by 5.96% compared to Rs 199.03 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Consolidated total income stood at Rs 2,349.63 crore, which increased by 5.59% year-on-year (YoY) but was sequentially down by 1.79% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ).

ALSO READ: Demonetisation effect: Britannia Industries posts 6% rise in Q4FY17 net profit

Nestle India: Between January to March of 2017, Nestle India's net profit rose 6.76% to Rs 306.76 crore, while total sales were up nearly 10%, at Rs 2,591.90 crore.

Nestle India said, “The net sale growth was on the back of domestic sales which increased by 9.7% mainly due to rise in volumes, including rebuild of Maggi Noodles, supplemented by marginally better realisation mostly from carrying over pricing.”

ALSO READ: Maggi noodles growth rate slows even as Nestle introduces new flavours

Hindustan Unilever: The company reported a net profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 1,183 crore, a rise of 8% as against Rs 1039 crore in the previous quarter.

During the quarter, the company's domestic consumer business grew by 8% with underlying volume growth of 4% and EBITDA margin expanded by 90 basis points. 

EBITDA for the quarter was at Rs 1,651 crore, a jump of 12% as against Rs 1470 crore in the previous quarter. As per the company's statement, the net sales grew by 7% during the quarter.

ALSO READ: Hindustan Unilever's Q4 net profit rises by 7% to Rs 1,183 crore

If we look at the above table, the net profit of all the four companies have been up marginally. The rise in the revenue as compared to previous fiscal quarter has contributed significantly, but did not meet the estimates. 

Moreove, if we see the sales, in case of Nestle and Britannia, it has dropped directly hurting the profits. The decline in sales is itself an indication that the companies are not able to come on track post note-ban announcement.

Will Goods and Service Tax (GST) benefit FMCG?

With GST coming into effect from the next quarter, the consumer goods items are going to become cheaper. 

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had decided the tax rates of goods and services under GST which moved many from the taxable bracket to the nil tax bracket and majority of the goods was moved to the 18% tax slab.

ALSO READ: GST: Companies are most likely to fatten their profits than pass on benefit on lower tax to consumers

Soaps, toothpaste, soups, hotel bookings and even economy class air travel was expected to become cheaper post GST, given that they would be brought to a lower tax bracket.

Hence, with the cheaper prices, the sales will rise, but it will put pressure on profits.

According to a research report by DART,  post GST, companies could claim credit only if they buy Raw Material (RM) from dealer who himself has paid all the taxes. If the companies fail to produce authenticated proof of duty payments from the RM providers, they would not be eligible for credit or will have to pay duty with interest.

However, on the other positive side is monsoon. The Indian weather forecaster, IMD estimated normal monsoon this year. If the prediction comes true, the FMCG companies may see an uptick in profits. 

Thus, for the coming quarters, it will be interesting to see how the balance sheet of these companies turn out to be.