HUL Q3 net rises 7% to ₹1,038 crore on exceptional income

FMCG major HUL on Monday reported 6.82 per cent increase in standalone net profit to Rs 1,037.93 crore for the third quarter of current fiscal on account of strong exceptional income.

Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) had posted net profit of Rs 971.66 crore in the October-December quarter of last fiscal.

Its exceptional income in the third quarter of 2016-17 was Rs 153.05 crore, as against exceptional expense of Rs 79.61 crore it had incurred in the same period of 2015-16.

"The gradual recovery of the market was temporarily impacted by adverse liquidity conditions. However, our performance demonstrated resilience and agility in this challenging environment, HUL Chairman Harish Manwani said in a statement.

"There are early signs of normalisation and our focus continues to remain on innovation led volume growth and improvement in margins. Our strategic agenda of delivering Consistent, Competitive, Profitable and Responsible growth remains unchanged," he added.

Its total income from operations declined 0.79 per cent to Rs 8,317.94 crore in the quarter under review, compared with Rs 8,384.68 crore in the same period of last fiscal, the company said in a BSE filing.

In a conference call, HUL Chief Financial Officer P B Balaji said due to impact of demonetisation consumers' purchase basket size reduced and frequency in shop

visits increased.

"There was varied impact across market and we expect a gradual improvement in the market in line with the liquidity improvement. South and West regions of the country were least impact while North and Central were most," Balaji added.

He said the company extended credit to its trade partners after demonetisation to help tide over liquidity crunch. It, however, did not hold back any planned investment or launches during the quarter.

During the quarter under review, HUL's revenue from home segment was up 1.02 per cent at Rs 2,689.06 crore, while its revenue from personal products declined by 2.69 per cent to Rs 3,980.17 crore.

The refreshment segment revenue was up marginally by 0.46 per cent to Rs 278.5 crore and that from foods vertical grew by 8.14 per cent to Rs 1,164.12 crore. Revenues from other segments which include exports, water, infant care business declined by 27.33 per cent to Rs 195.4 crore in the third quarter.