Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (HUL), on Tuesday, announced a 15.5 per cent growth in its net profit at Rs.871 crore for the third quarter of 2012-13.
Revenues were up 12 per cent at Rs.6,655 crore. Operating profit was up 12 per cent at Rs.1,089 crore while operating margin was unchanged at 16.3 per cent, the company said in a statement.
During the quarter, HUL’s domestic consumer business grew at 15 per cent with underlying volume growth of 5 per cent.
Both Home and Personal Care (HPC) and Foods & Beverages (F&B) registered double digit growth.
The operating context remained challenging during the quarter with input costs holding firm and high competitive intensity. Advertising & Promotion (A&P) spend was higher by Rs. 132 crore in the quarter, HUL 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 marketplace by remaining sharply focused on the needs of our large consumer base and successfully leveraging Unilever’s strong global innovation pipeline and best practices,” HUL Chairman, Harish Manwani, said in a statement.
Royalty
The company said that it would enter into a new agreement with Unilever Plc (and entities of the Unilever Group) with regard to royalty payment for the provision of technology, trademark licences and other services to HUL.
The new agreement envisages that the existing royalty cost of around 1.4 per cent of turnover will increase, in a phased manner to around 3.15 per cent of turnover not later than the financial year ending March 31, 2018.
