Hindustan Unilever Ltd., or HUL, India's largest consumer products company, reported a higher net profit for the third-quarter on increased income.
The company said the operating context remained challenging during the quarter with input costs holding firm and high competitive intensity.
The Mumbai-based company posted a third-quarter net profit of Rs.871.36 crore or Rs.4.03 per share, compared with Rs.753.81 crore or Rs.3.49 per share for the third quarter of last year, reflecting a 16 percent growth.
The results included a charge, under exceptional head, of Rs.7.28 crore, compared with a charge of Rs.12.38 crore in the preceding year quarter. Before exceptional items, profit for the quarter was Rs.873.09 crore, compared with Rs.762.17 crore in the year-ago quarter, an increase of 15 percent, the company said.
In the last quarter of the preceding fiscal year, HUL completed the transfer of its FMCG Exports business into its wholly-owned subsidiary Unilever India Exports Ltd., through a court approved scheme of arrangement, with the appointed date of April 1, 2011. Without the demerged business, the company reported adjusted net profit for the quarter of Rs.871.36 crore, compared with Rs.725.45 crore, registering a 20 percent growth.
Quarterly net income from operations increased by ten percent to Rs.6,433.69 crore from the Rs.5,844.31 crore in the corresponding quarter last year, while other operating income totaled Rs.221.14 crore, compared with Rs.111.22 crore last year.
During the quarter under review, net income from 'Domestic FMCG' grew by 15 percent to Rs.6,158.49 crore, while income from 'Others' declined by 43 percent to Rs.275.20 crore. Other operational income for the quarter nearly doubled to Rs.221.14 crore.
During the quarter, total income, including other operational income, was Rs.6,654.83 crore, up by 12 percent from the Rs.5,955.53 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.
For nine months, the company's net profit was Rs.3,009.47 crore, compared with Rs.2,069.89 crore in the corresponding period of 2011, registering a 45 percent growth. The company said net profit for Apr-Dec 2012 included a one-time gain, under the exception head, of Rs.598.99 crore, compared with Rs.90.79 crore in the preceding year.
Total income, including other income and other operational income, during the nine months was Rs.19,344.41 crore, up by 13 percent from the Rs.17,154.51 crore in Apr-Dec 2011 period.
The company's Board approved a proposal to enter into a new agreement with Unilever Plc. (and entities of the Unilever Group) for the provision of technology, trademark licenses and other services to HUL.
New Agreement
In the context of the huge growth opportunity in India, as well as increasing intensity of competition, particularly from global players, Unilever is committed to ensuring that the support in terms of new products, innovations, technologies and services is commensurate with the needs of HUL to win in the market place and continue to generate significant value for all shareholders of HUL.
Company Chairman Harish Manwani said, "In an environment that continued to be challenging, we have delivered another quarter of broad based growth and margin expansion. The business is consistently winning in the market place by remaining sharply focused on the needs of our large consumer base and successfully leveraging Unilever's strong global innovation pipeline and best practices."
At the BSE, Hindustan Unilever closed Tuesday' trading at Rs.481.55, down Rs.14.30 or 2.88 percent on a volume of 10,19,000 shares.
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