Hind Lever bottomline up 60%
BS 200 Scorecard
| Net sales for the quarter were Rs 3,066.01 crore as against Rs 2,731.54 crore last year, higher by 12.24 per cent. Total income was Rs 31,628.20 crore as against Rs 28,164.20 crore during the period under review. |
| The results for the quarter are not comparable with those of the previous year to the extent of integration of subsidiaries (International Fisheries, Lipton India Exports, Merryweather Food Products, TOC Disinfectants and Lever India Exports) with the company, the demerger and subsequent disposal of Doom Dooma and TEI plantation |
| divisions and the amalgamation of Vashisti Detergents with the company. |
| Although the country's biggest consumer goods maker improved its margins by selling more higher-value products, there are still input cost pressures, said D Sundaram, finance director, HLL. "Cost pressures are there," said Sundaram, adding, "If the decline (in oil prices) continues, we do really believe that input-cost escalation will ease." |
| Demand for consumer goods has been growing rapidly in the Asia's fourth-largest economy. Even rural India has seen incomes grow after good monsoon rains boosted farm output. |
| Hindustan Lever, which competes with rivals like Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Healthcare and the homegrown ITC, was also able to raise product prices to pass on higher raw material costs. |
| Hindustan Lever, 52 per cent-owned by Unilever, has been divesting businesses to focus on its portfolio of big brands, including Lux, Sunsilk, Surf and Lipton. |
| A detergents price war with Procter & Gamble's Indian arm over the last two years had threatened profitability, but the battle has since eased. |