Hindustan Unilever Q3 profit surges 18%, beats estimates - Livemint

Volume growth in the December quarter stood at 3%, compared with 5% in the September quarter. Photo: Pradeep Gaur/Mint

Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL ) on Monday said net profit rose 17.86% to Rs.1,252.17 crore in the quarter ended 31 December from Rs.1,062.30 crore a year-ago, while sales grew 7.69% to Rs.7,579.18 crore from Rs.7,037.8 crore.

A Bloomberg poll of 22 analysts had estimated net profit at Rs.1,091.30 crore and sales at Rs.7,938.10 crore.

Volume growth in the December quarter stood at 3%, compared with 5% in the September quarter.

During the quarter, the company reported an exceptional gain of Rs.396.58 crore against Rs.22.97 crore in the same quarter a year ago.

Advertising spends in the December quarter stood at Rs.977.12 crore, an increase of 5.13% from Rs.929.46 compared to the year-ago period.

The soaps and detergents business—which accounts for over 40% of its overall sales—grew 5.96%, personal products grew 6.54% and beverages grew 8.19%, led by premium tea and coffee.

The HUL stock was down 5.13% at Rs.894.10 at 3.13 pm on the BSE on Monday, while the benchmark Sensex was up 0.54% at 28,275.00 points and the BSE FMCG index was down 0.6% to 8,109.57.

Harish Manwani , chairman of HUL said in a press release: “We have delivered another quarter of competitive growth and margin improvement. We continue to strengthen the core of our business and drive the competitiveness of our brands in the market. At the same time we are leading market development in relatively nasce categories such as packaged foods and premium personal care with strong results. Given the fast changing external environment we are managing our business dynamically for sustained volume led growth and margin improvement”.