BENGALURU, Jan 2 (Reuters) - India's Marico expects third-quarter consolidated revenue to rise in the high twenties percent from a year earlier, as easing inflation and tax cuts have boosted sales, the company said on Friday.
The Saffola oils and Parachute haircare maker has remained resilient despite slowing urban demand as recent tax changes have enabled it to cut prices.
Marico said while its cooking oil business had a muted quarter, its core hair oils segment grew from a year ago. Saffola cooking oils and Parachute coconut hair oils together account for about half of Marico's India revenue.
The company said its premium personal care segment outperformed expectations and added that gross margins are likely to improve further as prices of copra, a key raw material used for coconut oil, eased.
Underlying volume growth in its India business remained in the high single digits, marking a slight improvement from a quarter ago, the company said.
Marico had logged a 15% rise in consolidated revenue to 27.94 billion rupees ($309.8 million) in the third quarter last year.
Its shares settled 0.36% lower on Friday but have risen nearly 6% since the tax changes came into effect on September 22.
($1 = 90.1900 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Komal Salecha in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)
