Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) share price dropped almost 3 percent in trade on Friday, April 30. The FMCG major on Thursday reported a 44.8 percent year-on-year rise in net profit at Rs 2,190 crore for the quarter ended March 2021, beating CNBC-TV18 analysts' poll estimates of Rs 1,975 crore.

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The company posted a net profit of Rs 1,512 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Revenue from operations during Q4FY21 rose 35 percent to Rs 12,433 crore from Rs 9,211 crore. CNBC-TV18 analysts' poll estimated revenue of Rs 12,020 crore.

Domestic consumer growth was at 21 percent with underlying volume growth of 16 percent, beating estimates of 14-15 percent growth.

#4QWithCNBCTV18 | HUL reports an increase of 45% in profit and EBITDA each pic.twitter.com/Q0EosNsVQ0

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) April 29, 2021

"Despite challenging times, in FY’21 our business ecosystem has withstood the disruption and demonstrated agility and resilience across the value chain. We have delivered on our multi-stakeholder business model," said Sanjiv Mehta, Chairman and Managing Director, HUL.

"Our focus firmly remains behind delivering volume-led competitive growth," Mehta added.

On the operational front, EBITDA increased 45 percent to Rs 3,043 crore from Rs 2,100 crore, while EBITDA margin expanded by 170 bps to 24.5 percent from 228 percent, YoY.

"Health, hygiene and nutrition forming 80 percent of business grew in double-digits for the third consecutive quarter, while discretionary and out-of-home categories improved sequentially," the company said in a regulatory filing.

HUL stock has returned nearly 2 percent in the last week, while the one-month return is negative by almost 2 percent. YTD, the stock has corrected 1.8 percent but the stock has gained 7.2 percent in the last year. The three-year return on the stock is almost 56 percent.

Global brokerage Jefferies has maintained a 'buy' rating on HUL, setting a target price of Rs 2,750. It said the FMCG major's margins could see an improvement in the second half of FY22.

Macquaries has set a target price of Rs 2,700 on HUL, maintaining an outperform rating on the stock as the willingness to hike price in soaps enhance comfort on near-term growth.

Citi has also set a higher target price at Rs 2,755 with a buy rating while raising the overall EPS estimate by up to a percent.

At 11.54 am, HUL share price quoted at Rs 2,353, down 2.27 percent, after opening at Rs 2,410 per share. It touched the day's low at Rs 2,330.25, while the day's high came in at Rs 2,442.90.

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(Edited by : Ajay Vaishnav)

First Published:Apr 30, 2021 12:14 PM IST