India’s largest fast-moving consumer goods company Hindustan Unilever Ltd on Thursday said its standalone net profit for the third quarter ended December 2022 rose 11.6% year-on-year (YoY) to ₹2,505 crore, helped by an increasing demand for its beauty and personal care products, which offset a rise in raw-material costs.
The firm had reported a profit of ₹2,243 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year.
The profit was higher than the average profit forecast of ₹2,497.90 crore by analysts in a Bloomberg survey.
The Indian arm of global consumer goods giant Unilever Plc recorded double-digit revenue growth of 16% at ₹14,986 crore for the third quarter of the financial year 2022-23 as against ₹12,900 crore in the year-ago period. This revenue growth was largely driven by Beauty and Personal Care Segment, Home Care, and price hikes in laundry.
Growth was ahead of the market with more than 75% of the business winning market shares, the FMCG major said in an exchange filing.
HUL flagged moderation in inflation during the third quarter, albeit it remained high as compared to the year-ago period.
The firm has reported an EBITDA or earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization of ₹3,537 crore in the December quarter. Meanwhile, the company’s EBITDA margins dipped 180 bps YoY to 23.6%.
The FMCG major has reported domestic volume growth of 5% for the quarter under review.
Segment-wise, Home Care clocked 32% revenue growth and double-digit volume growth, while Beauty and Personal Care rose 10%.
Meanwhile, Foods and Refreshment delivered 7% growth, led by robust performance in foods, coffee and ice-cream.
“We remain focused on managing our business with agility, continue growing our consumer franchise whilst maintaining margins in a healthy range,” said Sanjiv Mehta, CEO and Managing Director.
Looking forward, Mehta added, “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”.
Separately, HUL said its board has approved a new deal with Unilever group that would see royalty and central services fees increasing to nearly 3.45% of turnover from roughly 2.65% in fiscal 2022.
On Thursday, HUL shares closed 1.61% lower at ₹2,643.05 apiece on the NSE.
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