Hindustan Unilever Ltd on Wednesday posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 2,191 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2020, a 13.05 per cent increase compared to the preceding quarter of the year. It had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 1,938 crore in the third quarter of the fiscal year.
Total income during the fourth quarter stood at Rs 12,542, a 2.5 per cent increase compared to the third quarter’s total income of Rs 12,235 crore.
Consolidated net up 45 per cent YoY
On a year-on-year basis, the consolidated net profit increased 44.9 per cent compared to a net profit of Rs 1,512 crore recorded in the year-ago quarter. The total income during the quarter under review increased 32.36 per cent y-o-y compared to Q4FY20’s total income of Rs 9,475 crore.
Domestic consumer growth was at 21 per cent with underlying volume growth of 16 per cent, said HUL. The health, hygiene and nutrition segment, forming around 80 per cent of the company’s business, grew in double-digits in the third consecutive quarter, while discretionary and out-of-home categories improved sequentially, it added.
“Our in-quarter performance was strong on both the top-line and bottom-line. Despite challenging times, in FY’21 our business ecosystem has withstood the disruption and demonstrated agility and resilience across the value chain. We have delivered on our multi stakeholder business model. Our purpose-led brands and capabilities were further strengthened during the year and this positions us well to serve our consumers during this turbulent period. Our focus firmly remains behind delivering volume-led competitive growth,” said Sanjiv Mehta, Chairman and Managing Director, HUL India.
The recent surge in Covid cases is of serious concern and ensuring the safety and well-being of people remains our top priority, Mehta added.
The Board of Directors has proposed a final dividend of Rs 17 per share, subject to shareholder approval at the AGM. Together with interim dividend of Rs 14 per share, the total dividend for the financial year ending March 31, 2021 amounts to Rs 31 per share. During the year, special dividend of Rs 9.5 per share was also paid, it said.
The company’s homecare segment posted a growth of 15 per cent, the beauty and personal care segment posted a growth of 20 per cent, and the foods and refreshment segment posted a growth of 36 per cent. “Nutrition volumes grew in double digits and we launched Rs 2 sachets in Horlicks and Boost. Our goal remains to drive penetration in this category,” said HUL.
For the full year, HUL delivered sales of around Rs 45,000 crore, said Srinivas Phatak, CFO, HUL.
When asked about the demand outlook amid the uncertainties of the second wave of the pandemic during a press conference on Thursday, Mehta said: “We had great momentum coming into this new fiscal year and the first two weeks of the new year (first two weeks of April) were again the same momentum building on. The last two weeks had disturbances but the disturbance or disruption is not as severe as what we saw last April. As far as the underlying offtake and consumption is concerned, it is too early to say what impact it will have.”
“Right now, supply chains are running and even in places where there are localised lockdowns, the stores are open in most places. So, the business, albeit impacted to some extent, is still running,” added Mehta.
At HUL, we are very bullish on India, said Mehta. “And we have now, after what happened last year, built in resilience within our system so that if there are fluctuations in demand, we can cope with it...While disruption will be a way of life, I believe we have also learnt to navigate through this turbulence much better than at the beginning of the pandemic,” he said.
“At this stage, I firmly believe, looking at what has happened, it is not going to be as bad as what happened in the June quarter of last year,” said Mehta.