Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care Ltd on Wednesday reported a 29 per cent decline in its year-on-year net profit for the April-June quarter as the company stepped up investment in brand building initiatives to accelerate growth and capture the rising demand, post the second wave of the pandemic.
The company reported a net profit of Rs 48.98 crore in the quarter ended June 2021 as against a net profit of Rs 69.21 crore in the same period of the previous year.
Sequentially, the company's profits fell sharper as it had reported net profit of Rs 98.33 crore in the January-March quarter.
Though profit during the quarter under review fell, the company actually improved on its sales, albeit on a lower base of last year. For the quarter ended June 30, 2021, the company delivered sales of Rs 787 crore, up 24 per cent as compared year ago.
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Despite a challenging market environment, the company also delivered a strong performance in the fiscal with sales of Rs 3,574 crore, up 19 per cent against year ago per cent. Net profit during the fiscal year 2020-21 (PGHH follows July-June fiscal year) was Rs 652 crore, up 51 per cent over previous year.
For the fiscal, both feminine care and healthcare businesses recorded double-digit growth and grew ahead of their categories.
On improved performance during the fiscal, the company's board declared a final dividend of Rs 80 per equity share (nominal value of Rs 10 each) for fiscal year ending June 2021. The dividend will be paid between November 18 and December 14, 2021 after getting shareholders' nod at the AGM.
Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care Ltd Managing Director Madhusudan Gopalan said: "We continue to remain focused on protecting the health and safety of our people, serving the Indian consumers with our health and hygiene products, and supporting communities in need through our relief efforts."
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"Despite challenges posed by the pandemic, we have delivered double-digit profitable growth for the fourth consecutive quarter and for the full year. Our strategy to focus on superiority and productivity, enabled by the resilience and agility of our organisation is helping us deliver balanced growth."
Gopalan also said: "We are continuing to extend our support to the communities under our Covid-19 response and relief program #PGSurakshaIndia. We recently donated Rs 50 crore towards 10 lakh vaccine doses for 5 lakh Indian citizens in partnership with state governments and local authorities. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, we have donated more than 20 lakh masks and 30 lakh Whisper sanitary pads to support frontline workers and underprivileged communities."
