Mumbai: FMCG major Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) has become a Rs 50,000 crore turnover company, the first pure FMCG firm to achieve this milestone. The company’s revenues for the full year increased 11.3 percent to Rs 51,193 crore, as compared to its revenues of Rs 45,996 crore for FY21, a flat volume growth due to unprecedented inflation notwithstanding.
Sharing the news on LinkedIn, HUL CEO and managing director Sanjiv Mehta wrote: "The Hindustan Unilever journey has been a growth story powered by our purpose 'To Make Sustainable Living Commonplace'."
Calling the HUL of today “a perfect example of #ProfitsThroughPurpose,” Mehta stated that the results demonstrate how their “values & purpose-led, the future-fit business model delivers superior financial performance.”
“We have created a water potential of over 1.9 trillion litres by working in thousands of villages in India. Our carbon emissions from manufacturing have reduced by 94 per cent against the 2008 baseline,” detailed Mehta.
“We achieved plastic neutrality, empowered 1.6 lakh rural women micro-entrepreneurs through Project Shakti and have helped thousands of people living in the slums of Mumbai get a better life through Suvidha, our scalable community hygiene & sanitation centres. And during these last nine years, we have doubled our turnover, tripled our EBITDA, and quadrupled our market cap to over Rs five lakh crores or $70 billion,” he further shared.
The HUL executive additionally went on to thank all their consumers, stakeholders and employees for ‘believing in and unequivocally supporting’ the company along the way.
The company released its financial performance for the quarter and year ending 31 March on Wednesday.
“In challenging circumstances, we have grown competitively and protected our business model by maintaining margins in a healthy range,” Sanjiv Mehta commented, adding, “I am also pleased that we have become a Rs 50,000 crore turnover company in this fiscal. Our consistent performance is reflective of our strategic clarity, strength of our brands, operational excellence, and dynamic financial management of our business. While there are near-term concerns around significant inflation and slowing market growth, we are confident of the medium to long term prospects of the Indian FMCG sector and remain focused on delivering a consistent, competitive, profitable and responsible growth."
The FMCG behemoth’s revenue from sales of products during the fourth quarter stood at Rs 13,468 crore, up 11 per cent, as compared to the corresponding period a year ago, HUL said in its regulatory filing.
The company now has 16 brands with a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore each and reported a 5.34 per cent increase in its consolidated net profit to Rs 2,307 crore for the fourth quarter ended in March 2022, a flat volume growth due to unprecedented inflation notwithstanding. The profit and revenues reported by the company were higher than analyst estimates.
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Home Care growth at 24 per cent was broad-based with a strong performance in fabric wash and household care category. Both categories grew in strong double-digits with all parts of the portfolio performing well. Liquids and fabric sensations continued to outperform driven by effective market development actions, the company stated.
Beauty and personal Care grew competitively at four per cent, while foods and refreshments grew five per cent on a very high prior-year comparator, driven by solid performance in beverages, foods, and ice-cream.
Skin Cleansing category delivered double-digit growth driven by pricing and led by strong performance in ‘Lux,’ ‘Dove,’ and ‘Pears.’ A calibrated approach towards price increase in skin cleansing and hair care has helped protect the FMCG’s business model even as vegetable oils continue to inflate at record levels. Skin care and colour cosmetics had a muted quarter with Covid-19 third wave and high inflation impacting discretionary consumption.
Meanwhile, HUL has consistently remained among the top-ten advertisers on television, according to Broadcast Audience Research Council (Barc) India’s report on advertising trends for week 16 (16 to 22 April). The FMCG giant had an advertising volume of over 4,775 seconds on the medium, which’s nearly equivalent to the sum of the next top four advertisers’ ad volumes.
