Adani Wilmar posts second straight quarterly loss on muted oil prices

BENGALURU: India's Adani Wilmar swung to a loss for a second consecutive quarter on Wednesday, as lower edible oil prices continued to offset steady demand, pulling down the value of its sales.

The fast-moving consumer goods maker reported a consolidated net loss for the second-quarter ended Sept. 30 of 1.31 billion rupees ($15.73 million), compared with a profit of 487.6 million rupees a year earlier.

The company, jointly run by Adani Enterprises and Wilmar International, said that the quarter "continued to remain challenging" for the edible oil segment as its prices fell between 3% and 6%.

Shares of Adani Wilmar fell 2.3% after results. They are down about 48% so far this year.

After swinging to a loss in the first quarter, the maker of the Fortune brand of cooking oil, had flagged stressed Q2 profitability due to lower global oil prices and record inventories locally.

"While the profitability in edible oils were impacted consecutively for the second quarter, we believe that the abnormality will soon reverse," MD and CEO Angshu Mallick said in a statement.

Although total sales volumes grew 11% year-on-year, the company reported a more than 13% drop in revenue from operations to 122.67 billion rupees.

Volumes in key edible oils, which contributed 58% to the total mix, inched up 4%, whereas revenue declined 19%. It contributed 74% to the company's topline in the quarter.

Rival Saffola-parent Marico on Monday posted lower-than-expected second-quarter profit, as inflation and weak rainfall stung rural demand for its branded goods.

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