A pedestrian walks past the Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) headquarters in Mumbai January 19, 2015. Hindustan Unilever Ltd, the Indian unit of Anglo-Dutch consumer group Unilever Plc , reported an 18 percent rise in quarterly profit, beating estimates, helped by a revival in consumer spending and lower raw material costs.
April 30 (Reuters) – Hindustan Unilever Ltd reported an 18% rise in quarterly profit on Thursday, as consumption tax cuts in India boosted demand, although cost pressures intensified towards the end of the period.
The domestic unit of UK’s Unilever, home to brands such as Dove and Surf Excel, said its profit rose to 29.30 billion rupees ($307.57 million) for the fourth quarter ended March 31 from 24.93 billion rupees a year earlier.
After a long urban-led slowdown in consumption, demand began picking up about four quarters ago, helped by easing inflation and tax cuts. However, a surge in crude prices due to the Middle East war threaten to squeeze consumer goods makers’ margins in the coming quarters.
Hindustan Unilever’s revenue climbed about 7% to 155.99 billion rupees.
Revenue from its home care business, its biggest and includes brands such as Comfort and Vim, rose 9%.
($1 = 95.2638 Indian rupees)
Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam in Chennai; Editing by Sonia Cheema
