Hindustan Unilever 3Q Net Profit Up 21.9%

   By Gurdev Singh Virk 
 

MUMBAI--Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (500696.BY), India's largest consumer goods company by revenue, Monday reported a 21.9% increase in its fiscal-third-quarter net profit, helped by higher product sales and lower tax payments.

For the three months through December, Hindustan Unilever posted a net profit of 10.62 billion rupees ($168.6 million), compared with 8.71 billion rupees a year earlier.

Sales rose 9.4% to 70.38 billion rupees from 64.34 billion rupees, the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. Tax expenses for the period declined 10.7% to 2.48 billion rupees.

The company, a unit of U.K.-based Unilever PLC (ULVR.LN), has a wide distribution network that reaches thousands of supermarkets as well as smaller shops across India. Its sales are widely seen as an indicator of consumer demand in the country.

Hindustan Unilever's shares, which were trading flat earilier in the day, rose after the results were announced. At 0945 GMT, they were up 2.7% at 581.30 rupees on the Bombay Stock Exchange, as compared to a 2.0% decline in the benchmark Sensex index.

Write to Gurdev Singh Virk at [e-mail]

Order free Annual Report for Hindustan Unilever Ltd.

Visit http://djnweurope.ar.wilink.com/?ticker=INE030A01027 or call [phone]

Order free Annual Report for Unilever NV

Visit http://djnweurope.ar.wilink.com/?ticker=NL0000009355 or call [phone]

Order free Annual Report for Unilever NV

Visit http://djnweurope.ar.wilink.com/?ticker=US9047847093 or call [phone]

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires