CHENNAI (Reuters) – India’s Hindustan Unilever (HUL) reported a smaller-than-expected 0.6% increase in quarterly profit on Friday as demand for consumer goods in the country’s rural regions remained stubbornly low on weakness due to a delayed winter.
Consumer goods giants, including HUL peers Nestle India and Britannia Industries, have been struggling with a spending pullback at a time when prices of various essentials such as vegetables and dairy have shot up.
The Dove soapmaker said its sales of products in the quarter slipped 0.3% to 149.28 billion rupees, with its revenue within home care, and beauty and personal care (BPC) segments dropping 1.3% and 0.3%, respectively.
The Indian arm of UK’s Unilever said it recorded a profit of 25.19 billion Indian rupees ($303.30 million) for the quarter ended Dec. 31.
Analysts, on average, had expected a profit of 26.8 billion rupees, according to data from LSEG.
The profit miss came as HUL cut prices of several products, including detergents and household care products, on the back of easing commodity prices.
($1 = 83.0543 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam in Chennai; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
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