March Quarter & FY 2023 Results

March Quarter 2023: Strong all-round performance

HUL delivered a strong performance with turnover growth of 11% and Underlying Volume Growth of 4%. Growth was competitive with more than 75% of the business winning market shares¹. Profit After Tax (PAT) grew by 10%.

Home Care: Stellar performance continues

Home Care delivered another quarter of solid performance with 19% revenue growth. Both Fabric Wash and Household Care grew in strong double digits. Premium portfolio continued to outperform driven by effective market development actions.

Beauty & Personal Care: Broad-based double-digit growth

Beauty & Personal Care grew 10% with broad-based performance across categories. Skin Cleansing delivered double-digit growth led by Lux. With softening in Palm Oil, further price reductions were taken in the soaps portfolio. Hair Care continued its strong competitive performance and delivered volume-led mid-single-digit growth. Skin Care grew in double digits led by strong performance in the premium portfolio. Further progress was made on portfolio transformation through innovations and entry into fast-growing demand spaces. A new Skin Care brand ‘Novology’ in the masstige beauty segment, a new range of Hair Care products by Dove and Tresemme, bathing range by Lux, Lakme’s Lip and Face mousse were launched in the quarter.

Foods & Refreshment: Steady performance in Foods, Coffee and HFD

Foods & Refreshment grew 3% led by Foods, Coffee and Health Food Drinks (HFD). Tea strengthened its value and volume market leadership. The tea category witnessed consumers downgrading due to higher inflation in premium teas vis-à-vis loose tea. HFD continue to grow competitively and gain penetration. Coffee delivered double digit growth. Ice Cream grew in mid-single digit with unseasonal rains impacting consumption. Foods grew in mid-single digit led by strong performance in Ketchup and Foods Solutions. During the quarter, Millets Chocolate Horlicks and exciting flavours in Ice Cream including Salted Caramel Brownie, Hazelnut Chocolate and refreshing Ice Candies were launched.

Building back Gross Margin, stepping-up Advertising and promotions

Gross margin improved by 120 bps vs DQ’22 with reduction in price vs. cost gap. We continued to invest competitively behind our brands and stepped-up A&P investments by 80 bps vs DQ’22. EBITDA margin at 23.7% remains healthy. PAT at Rs. 2,552 Crores was up 10% year-on-year.

Financial Year 2022-23

Turnover at Rs. 58,154 Crores grew 16% with underlying volume growth of 5%. Growth was significantly ahead of the market leading to handsome market share gains. EBITDA margin remained healthy at 23.4% despite the unprecedented inflation during the year. PAT at Rs. 9,962 Crores and EPS at Rs 42 per share was up 13%. The Board of Directors have proposed a final dividend of Rs. 22 per share, subject to approval of shareholders at the AGM. Together with interim dividend of Rs. 17 per share, the total dividend for the year amounts to Rs. 39 per share an increase of 15% vs FY’22.

Sanjiv Mehta, CEO and Managing Director commented: ‘In challenging circumstances of geopolitical uncertainties, high commodity inflation and tepid market growths, I am pleased that we have delivered yet another year of strong and resilient performance. We have added c. Rs. 8000 Crores to our topline in this fiscal with volume growth in mid-single digits despite decline in FMCG market volumes. We continue to make steady progress in future-proofing our business through portfolio transformation and building distinctive capabilities.

Looking forward, the near-term operating environment is likely to remain volatile. With inflation easing due to lapping of high base and sequential softening in a few commodities, price and volume growths will rebalance. Market volumes will recover gradually as consumption habits readjust. We remain focused on managing our business with agility and growing our consumer franchise whilst maintaining margins in a healthy range. We stay confident of the medium to the long-term potential of Indian FMCG sector and HUL’s ability to deliver Consistent, Competitive, Profitable and Responsible growth.’