HUL’s net profit rises 14.2% to ₹1,351 cr
Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), India’s largest consumer packaged goods company by sales, on Monday beat analyst expectations to post a 14.2% rise in March quarter net profit. HUL reported a net profit of ₹1,351 crore in the January-March quarter, against ₹1,183 crore a year ago.
The maker of Knorr soups and Dove soaps attributed the performance to trade conditions that have normalised after the debut of goods and service tax (GST) and higher consumption. This is in contrast to the overall declining consumer confidence in the March quarter. Sales at ₹9,003 crore were up 2.5% from ₹8,773 crore a year ago. However, comparable domestic consumer sales grew by 16%, the company said in a press statement.
Comparable sales number includes excise duty, other net input taxes from reported sales of March 2017 and GST refunds to the sales of March 2018 quarter. A Bloomberg poll of 21 analysts had estimated the India unit of Anglo-Dutch consumer goods maker Unilever Plc to post a fourth quarter profit at ₹1,333 crore and revenues at ₹8,898.40 crore.
Sales growth was driven by underlying volume growth of 11%, the company said.
In the year-ago quarter as well, volume growth was 11%, but then the base for the company in the earlier December quarter had contracted by 4% due to demonetization.
Meanwhile, the RBI’s Consumer Confidence Index fell in March quarter to 95.1 points after showing some improvement in the December 2017 round where it stood at 96.9 points.
“Trade conditions have normalized and pipelines have now stabilised. We are also seeing a gradual improvement in demand,” said Srinivas Phatak, chief financial officer and executive director of finance and information technology at a press conference in Mumbai.
Volume growth was broadbased and also led by rural, which is again growing ahead of urban in many parts of the country, said Sanjiv Mehta, managing director and CEO, HUL.