Hindustan Unilever Limited announced its results for the quarter ended 31st December 2022.
December Quarter 2022: Strong all-round performance
HUL delivered strong performance in the quarter with Turnover growth of 16% and Underlying Volume Growth of 5%. Growth was ahead of the market with more than 75% of the business winning market shares1. Profit After Tax (PAT) grew 12%.
Home Care: Stellar performance continues
Home Care delivered another solid performance with 32% revenue growth and double-digit volume growth. Both Fabric Wash and Household Care grew in high double-digits with all parts of the portfolio performing very well. Liquids portfolio continued to deliver strong results driven by effective market development actions. Calibrated price increases were taken in Fabric Wash and Household Care portfolios to partly offset the input cost inflation.
Beauty & Personal Care: Delivers double-digit growth
Beauty & Personal Care grew 10%. Skin Cleansing delivered strong double-digit growth with volumes growing in mid-single digit. With softening in Palm Oil, price reductions were taken in soaps portfolio. Hair Care grew in high single-digit led by strong performance in Clinic Plus. Oral Care delivered steady performance led by Close-up. Delayed winter impacted growth in Skin Care, however, the non-winter portfolio delivered double-digit growth driven by continued focus on innovations and market development actions in emerging and on-trend demand spaces. During the quarter, Tresemme’s new hair care range with Protein Bond Plex technology, Lakme’s new range of serums and compact and Lifebuoy’s superior formulation with Neem and Aloe were launched.
Foods & Refreshment: Steady performance led by Foods, Coffee and Ice Cream
Foods & Refreshment delivered 7% growth led by robust performance in Foods, Coffee and Ice-cream. Foods grew in high-teens with double-digit volume growth led by Jams, Ketchup and Unilever Food Solutions business. Ice Cream had another strong quarter with double-digit growth. Tea continued its value and volume market leadership and delivered mid-single digit volume growth. Coffee continues to perform well delivering double-digit growth. Health Food Drinks (HFD) grew in mid-single digit with a strong performance in Boost and Plus range. HFD continues to gain market share and penetration on the back of focused market development actions. During the quarter, Red Label’s ‘Maa Care’ a new premium tea with 80% less caffeine, Bru ‘Instant Decoction’ coffee, Knorr ‘Korean Meal Pot’, and new flavours of Knorr Soup were launched.
Operating margins remain healthy
During the quarter we saw inflation moderating, albeit remaining high YoY. EBITDA margin at 23.6% improved 30 bps versus SQ’22 and declined 180 bps YoY. PAT (bei) was up 13% YoY, PAT at Rs 2,505 Crores was up 12% YoY. We continue to manage our business dynamically by driving savings harder across all lines of P&L, ensuring right price-value equation and investing competitively behind our brands.
FY’23: 9-month performance
Turnover at Rs. 43,516 Crores grew 17%, adding over Rs. 6,000 Crores to the top line. The underlying volume growth was 4%. Growth was significantly ahead of the market, both in value and volume. PAT and Earnings per share grew 14%.
Sanjiv Mehta, CEO and Managing Director commented:
‘Sustaining our strong momentum, we had yet another quarter of solid all-round performance delivering double-digit revenue and earnings growth. Our consistent performance is reflective of our strategic clarity, strength of our brands, excellence in execution, and dynamic financial management. I am excited about our foray into the fast evolving ‘Health and Wellbeing’ category through our strategic partnerships with OZiva and Wellbeing Nutrition. Our sustainable community development initiative ‘Prabhat’ turned 9 this year. Through Prabhat, we have made a positive difference to nearly 9 million people in the communities around our factories and depots.
Looking forward, we are cautiously optimistic in the near term and believe that the worst of inflation is behind us. This should aid in a gradual recovery of consumer demand. We remain focused on managing our business with agility, continue growing our consumer franchise whilst maintaining margins in a healthy range. We stay confident of the medium to the long-term potential of the Indian FMCG sector and HUL’s ability to deliver Consistent, Competitive, Profitable and Responsible growth.‘
As per December’22 Business Winning Report based on Nielsen market data