FMCG major Hindustan Unilever’s (HUL) standalone net profit remained flat at Rs 1,059.14 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2015 due to subdued demand in rural markets. It had posted a standalone net profit of Rs 1,056.85 crore in the April-June quarter of FY 2014-15. Its net sales climbed 5.31 per cent to Rs 7,973.37 crore in the quarter under review against Rs 7,570.78 crore in the year-ago period.
HUL Chairman Harish Manwani said: “In a subdued market environment, the business delivered another quarter of healthy volume-led growth and strong improvement in operating margin.” He further said: “With the near-term outlook largely dependent on pickup in rural markets and commodity costs expected to remain benign with little or no price growth across select categories, our focus will be to drive market development and simultaneously deliver cost efficiencies to sustain profitable volume-led growth.”
The company’s CFO P B Balaji said the environment remains challenging and recovery is yet to
stablise, especially in the rural market.