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Hindustan Lever net slips 26.8% in Q3
By siliconindia staff writer
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Thursday, 28 October 2004, 19:30 IST
MUMBAI: Faced with heavy competition and price wars, FMCG major Hindustan Lever Ltd has reported a 26.8 per cent drop in its net profit at Rs 324.32 crore in the third quarter ended September 30, 2004 as against Rs 443.22 crore in the same period last year.
The net sales for the reporting quarter decreased to Rs 2,401.14 crore from Rs 2,482.97 crore in July-September 2003, the company said in a release on Thursday.
The results for the quarter are not comparable to those of the previous period to the extent of sale of edible oils and fats business effective from August 29, 2003, it added.
The company said that in an intense competitive scenario, its shampoo volumes grew by over 40 per cent while laundry volumes incresed by nine per cent on a large base.
Brooke Bond, accounting for 90 per cent of tea sales, grew by five per cent, it said.
"Despite continuing intense competition, we have strengthened our leadership position specially in hair and laundry. This has been achieved through strategic brand investments backed by innovation," HLL chairman MS Banga said.
In foods, the company has reduced trade stocks to improve efficiency of supply chain and ensure stock freshness, he said adding "the success of these and other measures across the businesses will be the basis for our return to sustained profitable growth".
Net profit for the nine months ended September 30, 2004 dropped to Rs 803.89 crore as against Rs 1,277.07 crore in the same period of earlier fiscal while sales dropped to Rs 7,326.12 crore (Rs 7,554.87 crore).