India?s largest FMCG company, Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) on Tuesday reported a fall of 2.69% in its first quarter net profit at Rs 543.19 crore as against Rs 558.18 crore during the corresponding period last fiscal. HUL?s domestic FMCG business grew by 12.8% for the quarter ended June 30 to Rs 4,148.66 crore as against Rs 3,677.92 crore during the first quarter last year.
Announcing the company results, R Sridhar, chief financial officer (CFO) of HUL said, ?Operating profit (profit from operations before interest and exceptional items) for the quarter grew by 12.6% to Rs. 6725.4 crore compared with Rs. 5974.6 crore during the corresponding period last fiscal. Lower input costs combined with tight cost management and operating leverage have led to higher operating margins in this quarter?. The company reported a growth of 7.7% in its net sales at Rs 4475.6 crore for the quarter ended June 30 as compared to Rs 4152.8 crore for the corresponding period last year.
Commenting on HUL?s results, Nikhil Vora, managing director, IDFC SSKI Securities Ltd said, ?I think it?s a fairly subdued set of numbers especially on operation matrix and volume growth.
HUL’s HPC (home & personal care) business reported sales of Rs 3,405.82 crore during the first quarter, registering growth of 11.87 % over Rs 3,044.53 crore reported during the same period of last fiscal. Its foods segment business jumped 17.28% to Rs 742.84 crore during the quarter ended June 30, compared to Rs 633.39 crore.
According to chairman Harish Manwani, HUL has taken decisive actions to strengthen its competitiveness and execution capabilities in the market place. ?These have started to show positive results with good volume recovery in personal products and foods. At the same time, significant cost effectiveness measures across the value chain have helped improve operating margins. We will continue to focus on delivering competitive and profitable growth,? he added.