HUL reports 12.95% rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,631 cr

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 1,444 crore in the October-December period of the previous fiscal

FMCG major Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) on Friday reported 12.95 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,631 crore for December quarter 2019-20, helped by higher margins and volume growth.

The company had posted a profit of Rs 1,444 crore in October-December period of the previous fiscal.

Net sales during the quarter under review stood at Rs 9,953 crore, up 3.87 per cent from Rs 9,582 crore in the year-ago period, HUL said in a regulatory filing.

HUL's "domestic consumer growth was 4 per cent with Underlying Volume Growth at 5 per cent" in the quarter, it said.

"This quarter witnessed an overall challenging market environment, mainly reflecting a sharp slowdown in rural and discretionary spends.

In this tough environment, HUL has delivered a resilient performance which is reflective of the strength of our brands, consistency in strategy and execution prowess," said HUL CMD Sanjiv Mehta.

"Our continued focus on innovation and market development has helped sustain underlying volume growth at a steady 5 per cent. We have also delivered a healthy margin improvement," he added.

Total expenses were at Rs 7,849 crore as against Rs 7,900 crore earlier.

HUL's revenue from Home Care segment was at Rs 3,456 crore, up 9.81 per cent from Rs 3,147 crore in the year-ago period.

"Home Care continued its trajectory of good performance with double digit topline growth. In Fabric Wash, our focus on core and premiumisation continues to yield strong results," said HUL in a post earning statement.

Its Household Care segment saw a good growth on the back of market development. Upgradation to liquid dishwash in urban areas continues to build momentum, it added.

Beauty & Personal Care was down 2.86 per cent to Rs 4,448 crore as against Rs 4,579 crore in the year-ago period.

Beauty and Personal care was impacted by a higher than expected slowdown to market growth and delayed winter, said HUL.

Hair and Color cosmetics performed well, however, in personal wash, "negative market growths coupled with the pricing actions to pass on benefits of lower commodity have impacted topline delivery. Skin care performance was impacted by delayed winter while we saw good growths in the non-winter part of the portfolio".

Revenue from Foods & Refreshment was up 7.92 per cent to Rs 1,865 crore in the quarter as against Rs 1,728 crore in the year-ago three-month period as it witnessed growth across categories.

"Beverages saw broad-based growth in the quarter. Ice Cream and Frozen Desserts sustained focus on distribution expansion and building the innovation pipeline ahead of season. Foods registered good growth led by activations basis differentiated consumer insights," said HUL.

Revenue of other segments which include exports, infant and feminine care etc was down 13.69 per cent to Rs 334 crore as against Rs 387 crore in the corresponding quarter of 2018-19.

In a separate filing, HUL said its board in a meeting held on Friday approved the appointment of Ashish Sharad Gupta as Independent Director with effect from January 31, 2020.

Gupta is an entrepreneur, advisor and strategic angel investor. He co-founded Helion Advisors in 2006 and represents Helion Advisors, managing a corpus of USD 600 million across three funds, HUL said.

The company also announced appointment of Prabha Narasimhan as Executive Director of its Home Care segment and as its Management Committee as part of its top-level reshuffle within the organisation.

Narasimhan would replace Priya Nair, currently Executive Director - Home Care who moves as Executive Director - Beauty and Personal Care, HUL said.

Nair takes over from Sandeep Kohli, who will relocate to Dubai as VP – Beauty & Personal Care for North Africa, Middle East, Turkey and Russia markets, it added.

Shares of HUL on Friday settled at Rs 2,034.15 apiece on the BSE, down 1.18 per cent from the previous close.