FMCG major Hindustan Unilever 's (HUL) profit during July-September quarter grew by 11.5 percent year-on-year to Rs 1,095.60 crore amid challenging environment, partly supported by other income and margin expansion.
Revenue during the quarter grew by 1.6 percent to Rs 8,480.3 crore compared with Rs 8,348.60 crore in corresponding period last year, impacted by muted growth in personal care as well as home care segments.
"During the quarter, in a challenging context where market growth continued to be under pressure, domestic consumer business grew at 2 percent," the company said in its filing.
HUL's volume growth disappointed, coming in at negative 1 percent during the quarter against 4 percent growth in Q1FY17 and 7 percent in Q2FY16, and also lower than analysts' estimates of 3-4 percent growth.
EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) increased 5 percent year-on-year to Rs 1,404.62 crore while margin expanded by 55 basis points to 16.56 percent due to fall in advertising & promotions expenses (down by 7.6 percent) and raw material cost (down 5 percent).
It was a mixed set of earnings by the FMCG major. Profit was estimated at Rs 1,056 crore on revenue of Rs 8,036 crore and EBITDA was expected to be at Rs 1,462.4 crore with margin at 18.2 percent for the quarter, according to analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.
"We remain focussed on market development, consumer led innovations and an even sharper drive on operating efficiencies," Harish Manwani, Chairman said.
With a good monsoon, the company expects a gradual improvement in market demand and remain positive on the mid-long term outlook for the industry.
Personal care segment (which includes soaps, oral care, skin care, hair care etc) has registered a 0.33 percent degrowth year-on-year at Rs 4,028 crore, impacted by slowing markets and personal wash volumes. However, its EBIT margin expanded 90 basis points to 22.9 percent in July-September quarter.
Home care business (which includes fabric wash, household care & water) grew by 3.2 percent to Rs 2,777 crore and its margin jumped 170 basis points to 10.1 percent on yearly basis.
Tea business supported its refreshments segment (that also includes coffee, ice cream & frozen desserts products) that showed a 8.3 percent growth at Rs 1,169 crore and 120 basis points margin expansion at 14.8 percent YoY.
Other income during the quarter grew by 30 percent to Rs 252.8 crore compared with year-ago period. Hindustan Unilever has declared an interim Dividend of Rs 7 per share for FY17.
Source: Moneycontrol.com