Hindustan Unilever shares rally on earnings surge

HINDUSTAN-UNILEVER-SHARES:Hindustan Unilever shares rally on earnings surge

Hindustan Unilever rose as much as 4.4 percent on Tuesday after India's largest consumer goods maker said April-June net profit doubled from a year earlier, handily beating estimates.

Net profit at Hindustan Unilever surged to 13.3 billion rupees in the first fiscal quarter of the year from 6.3 billion rupees a year earlier, well above the consensus estimates for a 6.94 billion profit. Results were out after the market close on Monday.

Morgan Stanley said the results reflected "strong" volume growth and "even stronger pricing".

"Q1 results underscore our view that large consumer companies in India are gaining volume market share at the cost of regional players," Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a note.