Hindustan Unilever Q3 net profit rises 28% to Rs 13.26 billion

Consolidated total income rose 4% to Rs 87.42 bn as compared to Rs 84 bn in December 2016

Hindustan Unilever Ltd posted a 28% rise in its third-quarter profit on Wednesday, underpinned by higher sales from its personal care business.

Profit came in at Rs 13.26 billion in the quarter ended Dec. 31, from Rs 10.38 a year ago, the diversified consumer goods maker said. 

Total income during the quarter under review stood at Rs 87.42 billion as against Rs 84 billion in the year-ago period, up 4 per cent, it added.

"We have delivered another strong performance in the quarter, with broad based growth across categories and further improvement in margins," HUL Chairman Harish Manwani said.

On the outlook, he said: "We remain positive about the mid-term outlook of the industry and will continue to invest strongly in our core brands and developing categories of the future".

He, however, said there were early signs of commodity cost inflation and the company would further sharpen its focus on cost effectiveness programmes and manage business dynamically for competitiveness and sustained profitability.

Total expenses during the quarter under review stood at Rs 70.36 billion as against Rs 70.67 billion in the corresponding period previous fiscal.

Revenue from the personal care segment was Rs 40.9 billion as against Rs 39.8 billion in the year ago period. Home care division contributed Rs 27.41 billion during the quarter compared to 2,689 crore year ago.

"Personal wash witnessed robust growth across key brands led by Dove and Pears. Growth in skin care was driven by the strong performance of Fair & Lovely," the company said.

Hair care segment witnessed broad based volume-led growth, the company said adding that growth in the household care segment was led by a strong performance in Vim.

The purifiers business saw the launch of air purifiers under the Pureit brand.

The company clocked 11% volume growth during the quarter.

Consolidated total income rose 4% to Rs 87.42 billion as compared to Rs 84 billion in December 2016.

On Wednesday, HUL stock on BSE closed 0.68% at Rs 1,371.85.