Marico needs a parachute!

In this flat world of globalisation, one happening in one country, affects so many others. The Yen impacted the entire world and now the Bangladesh crisis. With the PM fleeing the country and army taking control as the interim Govt, the political crisis does impact India, as a neighbour and also economically as many companies are invested in Bangladesh.

Marico is probably the worst hit in the political crisis as 12% of its consolidated revenue came from Bangladesh and on a standalone basis, in terms of share in total international revenue, it contributes almost half or 44%. The company has been working consciously to bring down this contribution from Bangladesh and has set itself a target of less than 40% by 2027. It has come down from earlier 51% in 2022.

Asian Paints, Dabur, Godrej Agrovet, Mankind, Pidilite, Sun Pharma; all have money coming in from Bangladesh but for all its less than 1.5% of total revenue. Marico has the biggest exposure.

The company announced its Q1FY25 earnings yesterday, recording a 7% (YoY) rise in revenue from operations at Rs.2643 crore on which it posted a 9% jump in net profit at Rs.464 crore.  EBITDA margin rose 50 bps from 23.20% to 23.70%.

Marico is currently the top loser on the BSE; from its close of Rs.672.40, it opened flat but soon fell to an intraday low at Rs.642.55 and is trading around the same levels with more sellers than buyers on the counter.