The soap-to-shampoo maker reported a 11.2 per cent year-on-year growth in revenue from operations to Rs 12,724 crore for the reported quarter, which was in-line with Street’s expectation.
The company’s board also approved an interim dividend of Rs 15 per share following its board meeting today.
HUL’s domestic consumer growth in the quarter was at 11 per cent on-year. Performance was broad-based with all three divisions growing competitively. Business fundamentals remained strong with more than three-fourths of the business gaining market share and penetration, HUL said in a press statement.
“September quarter witnessed a sequential improvement in trading conditions, albeit remained challenging with unprecedented levels of input cost inflation and subdued consumer sentiments,” said Sanjiv Mehta, chairman and managing director at HUL.
The high prices of inputs dealt a heavy blow to the fast-moving consumer goods company’s operating performance in the quarter as operating margins shrank 50 basis points on-year to 24.6 per cent. However, operating profit in the quarter managed to grow 9.2 per cent on-year to Rs 3,132 crore.
“Our focused actions on net revenue management and savings have enabled us to manage inflationary pressures and deliver a healthy bottom-line performance,” HUL said.
The three product segments of HUL managed to deliver growth on a year-on-year basis. Beauty and personal care segment grew 10 per cent led by skincare, cosmetics and hair care. The soaps division managed to grow on a high base, however, hand hygiene sales fell as reduced COVID-19 cases led to lower demand for sanitiser and hand wash.
Tea grew on a very strong base and further strengthened its market leadership, and helped the food segment grow 7 per cent on-year, HUL said.
“Looking forward, we remain cautiously optimistic about demand recovery. In these times of uncertainty and unprecedented input cost inflation, we continue to firmly focus in delivering consistent, competitive, profitable and responsible growth,” Mehta said.
Shares of Hindustan Unilever were up 2.2 per cent at Rs. 2,710.95 on the National Stock Exchange.
