HUL bottomline down 23.4% to Rs 1,019 cr

FMCG company Hindustan Unilever (HUL) on Friday reported 23.4 per cent slump in net profit to Rs 1,019 crore as compared with Rs 1,331 crore in the year ago period.

Further, in a bid to prevent skewing the quarterly numbers, HUL gave the adjusted PAT figure which means that the adjusted profit after tax is from ordinary activities before exceptional items, net of tax and prior period tax adjustments. It excluded proceeds from property sale and tax rebate this quarter, while last year's PAT included one-off gain of Rs 120 crore from sales of a property.

HUL's net sales during the period under review increased by 6.99 per cent to Rs 6,687.49 crore in the quarter under review as against Rs 6,250.15 crore in the corresponding period last year, the company said in a statement.

Explaining the reasons for the decline in net profit, HUL said in the year-ago quarter it had an income of Rs 607.24 crore from exceptional items, which included sale of properties. For the same quarter this year, the credit from exceptional items was at Rs 106.25 crore.

HUL Chairman Harish Manwani said: "In a difficult market environment, we have again delivered competitive growth and strong margin expansion through a sustained focus on innovation, in-market execution and robust cost management."

However, Manwani said that there are near term concerns due to slowing market. "While there are near term concerns particularly around slowing market growth, we are confident of the medium to long term growth prospects of the FMCG sector and our strategy of driving growth and profitability through innovation and operational excellence," he added.

Meanwhile HUL shares closed at Rs 660.75 apiece on the BSE, down 3.75 per cent from their previous close.