Hindustan Unilever misses quarterly profit estimates

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Hindustan Unilever Ltd, the Indian unit of Anglo-Dutch consumer group Unilever Plc, reported a quarterly profit that missed market expectations as customers continued to be thrifty on purchases of soaps, shampoos and other personal care products.

Hindustan Unilever is Asia's largest consumer goods maker by market capitalisation and sells products such as Lux soap, Lipton tea and Dove shampoos through thousands of mom-and-pop stores as well as big retailers across the country, making it a barometer of Indian consumer sentiment.

Net sales from operations were 79.73 billion rupees ($1.25 billion) for the quarter ended June 30, up from 75.71 billion rupees last year.

The company said its net profit for the quarter was 10.59 billion rupees, compared with 10.57 billion rupees a year earlier.

Analysts on average were expecting a profit of 11.35 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters data. ($1 = 63.5600 rupee)

(Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Mumbai; Editing by Anand Basu)