Tata Consumer Products on Tuesday said its consolidated net profit for the March quarter increased 23.5% year-on-year (y-o-y) to Rs 269 crore. This was in line with Street estimates, which had pegged March quarter net profit at Rs 268 crore, according to a poll of analysts by Bloomberg. The Tata group company said its consolidated revenue for the quarter rose nearly 14% versus last year to Rs 3,619 crore, ahead of Street estimates.

Bloomberg consensus estimates had pegged March quarter revenue at Rs 3,507 crore. Earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) came in at Rs 518 crore, ahead of Bloomberg consensus estimates, which had pegged operating profit at Rs 442 crore. Ebitda grew 13.1% in the March quarter versus the same period last year.

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The company board on Tuesday recommended a final dividend of Rs 8.45 per equity for the financial year 2022-23 (FY23). The dividend, if approved by the members at the ensuing annual general meeting, will be paid after the AGM and within 30 days of its declaration, the company said.

Tata Consumer said India beverages business grew 8% for the quarter, with tea volumes returning to growth, up 3% YoY. It said its India foods business continued its strong trajectory, with volumes up 8%.

Its international business, Tata Consumer said, recorded 11% revenue growth (1% ex-acquisitions) in constant currency terms, with Ebitda in line with last year.

Managing director & CEO Sunil D’Souza said his company saw early signs of green shoots in its branded tea business, with the interventions put in place starting to yield positive results.

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“In our other core business of salt, we continued to execute strongly and have gained market share despite pricing actions taken to mitigate inflation. Our innovation across categories has picked up pace significantly with the number of new product launches in FY23 being almost 2 times of FY22,” he said.

Tata Starbucks recorded strong revenue growth of 48% for the quarter, bringing FY23 growth to 71%, albeit on a base that was impacted by the pandemic, the company said.

Tata Starbucks opened 71 new stores during the year and entered 15 new cities – the highest ever annual store addition. This brought the total number of stores to 333 across 41 cities.

On Tuesday, ahead of the results, Tata Consumer’s scrip closed 0.25% higher at Rs 734.30 a piece on the BSE. In the last one year, the shares of the company have underperformed the market, down 8%.