6 February 2012
3QFY12 Results Update | Sector: Consumer
Marico
BSE SENSEX
S&P CNX
17,605
Bloomberg
Equity Shares (m)
52-Week Range (INR)
1,6,12 Rel. Perf. (%)
M.Cap. (INR b)
M.Cap. (USD b)
5,326
MRCO IN
614.4
173/112
-2/3/40
100.1
2.1
CMP: INR163
TP: INR185
Buy
Volume growth momentum continues:
Volume growth momentum continued for Marico (MRCO), led by
16% volume growth in the domestic business; consolidated organic volume growth was 13%. Increased
focus on rural markets was a key contributor to volume growth; share of rural sales has increased to 30% for
9MFY12 as against 27% in FY11.
Gross margin expands after six quarters of contraction:
Consolidated gross margin expanded by 120bp to
48.5% after six consecutive quarters of YoY margin decline; the expansion was led by price increases in the
domestic portfolio and fall in copra prices. Consolidated EBITDA margin contracted by 70bp to 11.5% due to
higher ad expenses (up 170bp) and staff costs (up 80bp). MRCO has booked prior period expenses of INR130m
pertaining to Kaya Middle East in 3Q; excluding this, EBITDA margin would have been higher by 120bp at
12.7%.
Upgrading estimates, stock recommendation:
We are revising our earnings estimate for FY13 by 12% and are
introducing our EPS estimate for FY14 at INR8.9. We are also upgrading our recommendation on the stock to
Buy.
This follows strong operating performance in 3QFY12 and improved visibility of higher medium-term
growth. Our SOTP-based target price is INR185 (we have valued the domestic consumer business at 22x
FY14E earnings, the international business at 12x FY14E earnings and Kaya at 0.7x sales).
Amnish Aggarwal
(AmnishAggarwal@MotilalOswal.com); Tel: +91 22 3982 5404