Consumer goods giant Dabur India Ltd. on Thursday reported lower-than-expected growth in profit and revenue for the December quarter.

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The FMCG company’s consolidated net profit in the December quarter dropped 5.5 percent year-on-year to Rs 476.6 crore compared to Rs 504 crore in the same quarter a year ago. The net profit was 2.5 percent lower than the CNBCTV-18 poll estimate of Rs 489 crore.

The company has also recorded a 3 percent decline in true volumes for the December quarter, as there has been a downtrading in affordable packs and low unit packs (LUPs), leading to a negative mix.

Dabur’s revenue from operations increased 3.5 percent to Rs 3,043 crore from Rs 2,942 crore in the year-ago period. However, it was 1.9 percent lower than the CNBCTV-18 poll of Rs 3,102 crore.

The company’s EBITDA, however, came in higher than the CNBCTV-18 poll of Rs 600 crore at Rs 610.4 crore. The EBITDA was down 2.7 percent year-on-year compared to the year-ago quarter.

Further, the FMCG major’s margin was 80 basis points higher at 20.1 percent compared to CNBCTV-18’s poll of 19.3 percent, while declining 100 bps year-on-year from 21.3 percent in the year-ago period.

The company’s compounded annual volume growth over a 3-year period is 5.2 percent.

In its quarterly business update released last month, Dabur anticipated its revenue growth to be between a low to mid-single digit in the December quarter due to a challenging macroeconomic environment and muted growth shown by its various businesses.

The company said that demand trends for the FMCG industry remained weak and that rural markets continue to remain under pressure. A late onset of winter in North India added to the pressure as most of its products like Chawanprash sell more during winter.

Shares of Dabur ended 1.38 percent lower at Rs 553.9 on Thursday.

(Edited by : Rukmani Krishna)