HUL, the major FMCG major and a leading advertiser, has reported a profit of Rs 2,009 crore in the quarter ended September 2020, against the Rs 1848 crore in the same period last year recording a growth of 8.7 per cent.
It was further reported that the overall sales grew by 16 per cent during the quarter. Underlying domestic quarter business sales also grew by three per cent during the quarter.
The BSE filing further mentioned that the revenue from operations increased 16.1 percent to Rs 11,442 crore in Q2FY21 compared to Rs 9,852 crore in corresponding period last fiscal. EBIDTA for the quarter stood at Rs 2,869 crore against Rs 2,443 crore in same period last year. It grew by 17 per cent and margin improved by 30 bps.
The profit after tax before exceptional items for the quarter stood at Rs 2,035 crore against Rs 1,832 crore in the same period last year. It grew by 11 per cent.
The board has declared an interim dividend of Rs 14 per equity share of face value of Rs 1 each for the period ended September 2020.
HUL CMD Sanjiv Mehta said, “In the context of a challenging economic environment, our growth has been competitive and profitable. We continue to demonstrate execution prowess, agility, adaptability, resilience and passion of our people. The company’s operations and service levels are now back to pre-Covid levels and they have accelerated the pace of digitizing the operations under the ‘re-imagine HUL’ agenda.”
“The economic outlook has improved given the various initiatives taken by the government and Reserve Bank of India. In our sector, rural markets have been resilient but the demand in urban India, especially in metropolitan cities has been muted. We believe that the worst is behind us and we are cautiously optimistic on demand recovery,” he added.
HUL shared that its household care segment delivered strong performance across all segments led by continued penetration gains. The brand has reduced the cost of fabric wash to pass on benefits of lower commodity costs to consumers. The category consumption of laundry has been adversely impacted due to confined living. “Continued focus on driving market development has enabled us to grow our liquids and fabric sensations segments strongly,” the filing further mentioned.
The company’s skin cleansing segment grew in double digits on back of a very strong performance in ‘Lifebuoy’ and a good delivery in ‘Lux’.
Its hand sanitizers and handwash segments continued to gain penetration and have delivered robust growths. Its oral care grew in double digits with accelerated momentum in ‘Close Up’, while hair care also grew in double digits. Its skin care brands ‘Glow & Lovely’ and ‘Glow and Handsome’ also continue to grow.
Food, tea, coffee sustained the high growth momentum and grew in double digits. Its performance of nutrition business was competitive and disrupted supply lines were completely restored. However, ice creams, food solutions and vending machines continue to be impacted as the out-of-home consumption was affected.
“Our strong savings funnel, judicious and calibrated pricing in tea, synergies in nutrition have enabled us to successfully manage headwinds of commodity inflation and adverse mix,” HUL said in a release.
“We have significantly increased our investments behind our brands and our spends continue to be competitive,” it added.
HUL commands a large portfolio of brands across categories and it is one of the largest advertisers of the country.
