Nestlé ramps up advertising investments in core brands in Q2: Suresh Narayanan

New Delhi: Nestlé India continues to prioritise its core brands by significantly increasing advertising and marketing investments in the last quarter. 

“We kept a relentless focus on investing behind our core brands, with advertising and marketing investments increasing this quarter,” said Suresh Narayanan, Chairman and Managing Director of Nestlé India.

He highlighted the company’s efforts to enhance its digital reach and maximise media buying efficiencies as key factors in the company's ongoing growth strategy.

FMCG major Nestle India reported a marginal decline of 0.94% in its net profit at Rs 899.49 crore for the quarter that ended September 2024, in which it faced high commodity prices and some of its key brands faced softer consumer demand.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 908.08 crore in the July-September period a year ago, according to a regulatory filing from Nestle India.

However, Nestle India's revenue from the sale of products was up 1.3% to Rs 5,074.76 crore in the September quarter. It was at Rs 5,009.52 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.

Its total expenses in the September quarter were up 3.42% to Rs 4,090.09 crore.

Nestle India's domestic sales were up 1.23% to Rs 4,883.14 crore, as against Rs 4,823.72 crore in the corresponding period of July-September.

Its revenue from exports was also up 3.13% to Rs 191.62 crore in the September quarter.

Nestle India's revenue from operations, which includes other operating revenue, was at Rs 5,104 crore, up 1.33%. It was at 5,036.82 crore in the previous September quarter.

The total Income of Nestle India, which owns popular brands such as Maggi, Nescafe and Kit Kat was flat to Rs 5,110.86 crore as its revenue from other income sources was down.

Nestle also introduced 14 new Cerelac variants with no refined sugar. Out of the 14 new Cerelac variants in India, seven of them will be available by the end of November 2024. 

The remaining variants will roll out in the coming weeks, expanding the total CERELAC range to 21 products.

E-commerce, in particular, has seen high double-digit growth—the highest in the last seven quarters—and now contributes 8.3% of the company’s domestic sales.

The company’s out-of-home (OOH) business has also seen a strong double-digit growth.