Strong food sales have driven a rise in third-quarter operating profits at Hindustan Unilever, India’s largest FMCG group.
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However, shares in the company fell today (31 October) after quarterly net profit fell 21% and revenue was lower than analysts’ forecasts.
The company said food sales jumped 17% during the three months to the end of September, thanks to “strong growth” from processed foods, including Knorr soup. The company said ice cream sales grew in the “double digits” during what it described as an “off-season” quarter.
Group operating profit rose 7.8% to INR4.4bn (US$111.9m), on the back of a 9.7% increase in revenue to INR33.6bn.
However, the company said net profit slumped 21.6% to INR4.1bn, due to comparisons to the third quarter of 2006, when it booked “exceptional income”.
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By GlobalDataChairman Harish Manwani said: “FMCG demand continues to be strong in both urban and rural markets.” He added: “Material cost inflation remains a concern and we manage this through aggressive cost effectiveness and judicious price increases.”
Hindustan Unilever’s results come ahead of the publication of Unilever’s third-quarter results, which are due to be published tomorrow (1 November).
