FMCG major Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) on Monday reported a 21.18 per cent rise in its standalone net profit for the July-September 2019-20 quarter to Rs1,848 crore, on the back of rising sales of home care, beauty and personal care verticals.
The company had posted a net profit of Rs1,525 crore for the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, HUL said in a filing to BSE.
Standalone sales during the quarter stood at Rs9,708 crore against Rs9,138 crore for the similar quarter of the previous financial year.
“Amidst a challenging market environment, HUL has delivered another quarter of resilient performance and sustained margin improvement. Our focus on consumer value, excellence in execution and market development continues to serve us well,” HUL chairman and managing director, Sanjiv Mehta, said.
The near-term outlook for demand, especially in rural India, remains challenging, he said, adding, “HUL remains well positioned to unlock the structural FMCG India opportunity while navigating the short-term challenges. We continue to progress our ‘purpose-led and future-fit’ agenda which is underpinned by our sustainability initiatives and ‘Re-imagining HUL’ driven by leveraging data and technology in all aspects of our operations.”
HUL’s revenue from the home care segment rose to Rs3,371 crore in July-September 2019, from Rs3,080 crore in the year-ago quarter, according to the filing.
The beauty and personal care segment revenue increased to Rs4,543 crore in the quarter under review from Rs4,316 crore in the same period of last year.
The revenue of the foods and refreshment segment stood at Rs1,847 crore in July-September 2019, against Rs1,704 crore in the same quarter of last year.
The board of directors has declared an interim dividend of Rs 11 per share for the year ending March 31, 2020, the company said.
Hindustan Unilever Limited also today announced the appointment of Willem Uijen as executive director, Supply Chain and a member of the HUL Board with effect from 1 January 2020.
Uijen succeeds Pradeep Banerjee who is retiring after a career of four decades. Pradeep has been instrumental in transforming HUL’s supply chain as well as creating a function which is more responsive, adaptive and driven by automation, data and analytics, HUL stated in a separate release.