HUL meets profit estimate amidst cost pressures

Unilever Plc's Indian unit reported quarterly profit that met analyst expectations as price hikes helped Asia's largest consumer goods maker by market value manage persistent inflationary pressures.

The Mumbai-listed Hindustan Unilever Ltd posted a 17 per cent rise in net income to Rs 2,240 crore for the quarter ending Dec. 31, according to an exchange filing Thursday, exactly in line with the average profit forecast by analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Revenue rose 10 per cent to Rs 12,900 crore while total costs rose 8.3 per cent. It saw a volume growth of 2 per cent.

"We have delivered a strong and resilient performance in the quarter despite moderation in market growths and significant levels of commodity inflation," Sanjiv Mehta, the company's chairman and MD, said in a statement, adding that the operating environment in the near-term "will continue to remain challenging."

The maker of Hellmann's mayonnaise and Dove soap, like its parent unit, has been roiled by rising input costs amid a global supply chain disruptions. India's retail inflation climbed for the third straight month in December. While prices of key raw materials including palm oil and crude oil-based packaging have spiked, Hindustan Unilever has passed on some of it to

consumers in product categories such as soaps and detergents in the last quarter.

"Fast-moving consumer goods companies have taken price hikes to the tune of 5-15 per cent in the last six months to pass on

high commodity inflation," Sanjay Manyal, an analyst at ICICI Securities Ltd wrote in a sector report last week. "It is difficult to call out at this time that commodity inflation has peaked out."