FMCG major Hindustan Unilever has announced 8 percent rise in profit for the quarter ending September 30, 2020. HUL reported INR 1,967 crore as quarterly net profit while market analysts were expecting better performance with estimated net profit at INR 2,035 crore. Compared to the same quarter last year, HUL registered 15.6 percent increase in consolidate revenue for the quarter.

Operating profit jumped by 16.6 percent to INR 2,925 crore. However, the margin improvement at HUL isn’t as impressive as some other companies in the FMCG segment. HUL margin improved to 25.1 percent from 24.8 percent.

HUL announced an interim dividend of Rs 14 per share. The management informed that the operations at one of the biggest FMCG companies in India are back to pre-pandemic levels. However, the management expressed concerns about slower recovery in consumption.

Talking about performance of HUL, Sanjiv Mehta, chairman and managing director at HUL informed, “Rural markets have been resilient but demand in urban markets, especially metros has been muted. In the context of a challenging economic environment, our growth has been competitive and profitable.”

Mehta added that the worst is behind but the recovery in demand could take longer. He shared the HUL is cautiously optimistic about recovery in demand.