The country's largest fast moving consumer foods (FMCG) maker, Hindustan Unilever (HUL), on Thursday reported standalone net profit of Rs 2,505 crore for quarter ended December 2022. That marked an upside of 12 per cent from Rs 2,243 crore during the same quarter last year.
Its revenue from sale of products advanced 16 per cent to Rs 14,986 crore from Rs 12,900 crore during the same period last year.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) or operating profit for the quarter came in at Rs 3,537 crore compared with Rs 3,279 crore in the year ago period. EBITDA margin came at 23.6 per cent which was 180 basis points lower than what it reported in December quarter of 2021.
“HUL delivered strong performance in the quarter with Turnover growth of 16 per cent and Underlying Volume Growth of 5 per cent. Growth was ahead of the market with more than 75 per cent of the business winning market shares,” the company said in a stock exchange filing.
HUL's home care business posted revenue growth of 32 per cent and a double-digit volume growth.
Beauty & Personal Care grew 10 per cent. Skin Cleansing delivered strong double-digit growth with volumes growing in mid-single digit.
“With softening in Palm Oil, price reductions were taken in soaps portfolio. Hair Care grew in high single-digit led by strong performance in Clinic Plus. Oral Care delivered steady performance led by Close-up. Delayed winter impacted growth in Skin Care, however, the non-winter portfolio delivered double-digit growth driven by continued focus on innovations and market development actions in emerging and on-trend demand spaces. During the quarter, Tresemme’s new hair care range with Protein Bond Plex technology, Lakme’s new range of serums and compact and Lifebuoy’s superior formulation with Neem and Aloe were launched,” the company said.
“Sustaining our strong momentum, we had yet another quarter of solid all-round performance delivering double-digit revenue and earnings growth. Our consistent performance is reflective of our strategic clarity, strength of our brands, excellence in execution, and dynamic financial management. I am excited about our foray into the fast evolving ‘Health and Wellbeing’ category through our strategic partnerships with OZiva and Wellbeing Nutrition. Our sustainable community development initiative ‘Prabhat’ turned 9 this year. Through Prabhat, we have made a positive difference to nearly 9 million people in the communities around our factories and depots. Looking forward, we are cautiously optimistic in the near term and believe that the worst of inflation is behind us. This should aid in a gradual recovery of consumer demand. We remain focused on managing our business with agility, continue growing our consumer franchise whilst maintaining margins in a healthy range. We stay confident of the medium to long term potential of Indian FMCG sector and HUL’s ability to deliver a Consistent, Competitive, Profitable and Responsible growth,” said Sanjiv Mehta, CEO and Managing Director of the company.
HUL shares ended 1.36 per cent lower at Rs 2,650, underperforming the Sensex which fell 0.3 per cent.
