THE WHAT? Hindustan Unilever has announced its results for the second quarter of fiscal 2020. The manufacturer of recently rebranded skin care line Glow & Lovely saw sales swell 4 percent while organic revenue dropped a better-than-expected 7 percent year-on-year in the three months to June 30th.
THE DETAILS Net profit was up 7 percent on last year’s equivalent results to Rs1,881 crores, and some 80 percent of brands made market share gains over rivals Nestle and Colgate-Palmolive over the period to boot, Reuters reports.
“Our performance in the quarter has been resilient and reflective of the intrinsic strength of our portfolio, agility in operations, excellence in execution, purpose-driven leadership and our strong balance sheet,” Sanjiv Mehta, Chairman and Managing Director commented. “I take this opportunity to acknowledge the superlative efforts of thousands of our people in our factories and sales organization who have worked with a higher purpose of ensuring availability of essential products to the citizens of our country in these extremely challenging times. While constraints continue due to restrictions in several parts of the country and the near-term demand outlook remains uncertain, we remain well positioned to drive competitive, profitable, and responsible growth. The long-term structural opportunity of FMCG in India also remains intact.”
THE WHY? Hindustan Unilever attributed the more buoyant results to high demand for health, nutrition and hygiene products, which Hindustan Unilever’s brand portfolio is well equipped to meet. Skin cleansing, led by Lifebuoy, delivered strong double-digit growth, in particular and the company has significantly upped capacities in hand wash and sanitizer to meet consumer need.
