ITV

Tag: HUL

  • HUL’s notches up solid growth in quarter ended 30 June 2022

    HUL’s notches up solid growth in quarter ended 30 June 2022

    MUMBAI: The folks at Hindustan Unilever Ltd  (HUL) are in a celebratory mood. Reason: the FMCG multi-product major has announced shiny financial results for the quarter ended 30 June 2022, even though the economy is sailing through rough weather.  The company’s turnover grew 19 per cent with underlying volume growth of 6 per cent. HUL  continued to grow significantly ahead of the market, gaining value and volume market shares1. EBITDA margin at 23.2 per cent remained healthy despite unprecedented inflationary headwinds. Profit after tax before exceptional items (PAT bei) grew 17 per cent and profit after tax  (PAT) grew 11 per cent.

    Home care: Stellar performance continues

    Home care delivered 30 per cent growth driven by strong performance in Fabric Wash and Household Care. Both categories grew in high double-digits with all parts of the portfolio performing well. Liquids and fabric sensations continued to outperform driven by effective market development actions. Calibrated price increases were taken across fabric wash and household care portfolios as input cost continue to inflate at significantly high levels. During the quarter Comfort Delicates was launched which is specially made for delicate clothes.

    Beauty and  personal care: Strong growth ahead of the market

    Beauty & personal care growth of 17 per cent was broad based. Hair care grew in high double-digit led by strong performance in the premium portfolio. Soaps delivered price-led double-digit growth driven by strong performance in Lux, Dove and Pears. Skin care and color cosmetics delivered strong YoY growth on a soft base. Premium portfolio in skin care performed well and is significantly ahead of pre-Covid levels. Calibrated pricing actions were taken across the portfolio to offset the impact of record inflation in input costs. During the quarter, Tresemme’s hair care range ‘Pro Pure’, Baby Dove Derma Protect Baby Wash, Vaselines’s summer range of body moisturisers and Lakme’s Facial Foams were launched.

    Foods and refreshment: Steady performance on a high base comparator

    Foods and refreshment grew 9 per cent driven by solid performance in ice-cream, coffee and food solutions. Ice cream had a very strong quarter broad based across brands and formats taking it significantly ahead of pre-COVID levels. Tea delivered steady performance and cemented its market leadership. Coffee had a strong quarter growing in double-digit. Health food drinks continued to gain market share and penetration on the back of focused market development actions. Foods grew in double-digit led by jams. Unilever Food Solutions delivered a solid performance and continued to build its salience with professional chefs.

    Operating margins remain healthy

    EBITDA margin at 23.2 per cent remained healthy despite the unprecedented inflation in input costs. YoY EBITDA margin declined 110 bps. PAT (bei) was up 17 per cent YoY. PAT at Rs 2,289 Crore was up 11 per cent YoY. The difference between PAT (bei) and PAT growth is largely due to a one-off prior period tax credit we had in base period. The company says it continues to manage “its business dynamically driving savings harder across all lines of P&L and taking calibrated pricing actions using the principles of net revenue management. It continues to invest competitively behind our brands. “

    CEO & managing director Sanjiv Mehta said: : ‘In an environment which remains challenging, marked by unprecedented inflation and consequential impact on consumption, we have delivered yet another quarter of robust topline and bottom-line performance. We have grown competitively whilst protecting our business model by maintaining margins in a healthy range. While there are near term concerns around inflation, the recent softening of commodities, forecast of a normal monsoon, and monetary/ fiscal measures taken by the government augur well for the industry. 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. ‘ 

  • HUL is working towards building brands with a purpose: Nitin Paranjpe

    HUL is working towards building brands with a purpose: Nitin Paranjpe

    Mumbai: Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) brands are transforming to serve the India of tomorrow. Speaking at the 89th annual general meeting recently, the company’s chairman Nitin Paranjpe said that the India growth journey, which began prior to the pandemic, continues to be strong. He mentioned that India needs growth that is not just transformative, but also inclusive – growth that is both productivity and employment led. Drawing attention to the paradoxical and fast changing world we live in, he highlighted the urgency for businesses to take the lead in addressing the environmental and societal challenges that the world faces.

    In his speech titled ‘Serving India, Today and Tomorrow’, Paranjpe said “HUL has been an integral part of India’s growth story over the years and has always believed that what is good for India is good for the company.” 

    He shared a glimpse of the company’s future-fit strategy. “Our belief that purpose-driven brands and business can indeed deliver sustainable growth and it has been further strengthened over the years.”

    He also mentioned that the company crossed the Rs 50,000 crore turnover mark and over the last decade, HUL has more than doubled its turnover, tripled the Ebitda and quadrupled the market cap.

    Paranjpe said, “At HUL, we are embedding sustainability across the value chain and beyond through what we call the ‘Compass’; our strategy to make sustainable living commonplace. We believe that ‘Compass’ will help us deliver superior performance and drive sustainable and responsible growth. We are building technology muscle to serve our customers and consumers even better. We are determined to showcase that there can never be a trade-off between purpose and performance.”

    HUL has the power to impact the lives of consumers

    Paranjpe highlighted that HUL is working towards building brands with a purpose. With more than 9 out of 10 Indian households using one or more of HUL brands. He said “HUL has the power to impact the lives of consumers. The company’s brands strive to bring about positive social change and break barriers to help build a more inclusive society through thoughtful marketing campaigns. Through several initiatives, the company has been addressing challenges like water scarcity, livelihood opportunities, employability, health and sanitation among others.”

    Moving towards a phygital journey

    As the world changes and moves towards digitalization, brands need to be present everywhere and communicate consistently to stay top of mind. On this, he said, “with an increased adoption of digital, the shopper journey has now become phygital.”

    He added that in a nation of paradoxes, critical to unlocking value is deaveraging – we need to win in rural and in urban, in mass as well as in premium, in traditional and on digital.

    HUL’s growth drivers

    He feels that the road ahead holds both challenges and opportunities. “In order to overcome the challenges and realise the enormous opportunities that exist, it is imperative to ensure that the next phase of growth for the nation is both sustainable and equitable. Businesses can play a key role in this transformative journey,” he concluded.

  • Kantar Creative Effectiveness Awards: HUL dominates the digital category

    Kantar Creative Effectiveness Awards: HUL dominates the digital category

    Mumbai: Marketing data and analytics company, Kantar unveiled on Thursday the ads that were most effective and creative in 2021 across India. The firm tested more than 13,000 creatives for clients around the world throughout 2021. 10 percent (1300+) of those creatives were tested in India alone.The India report shortlisted over 350 ads, tested across categories, markets, target groups and media channels.

    Some of the findings from Kantar’s Strategic Sparks for effective and creative digital advertising are:

    • Customized and integrated content yields significantly higher ROI: Carrying forward creative stories and elements from other media amplifies the impact of digital assets.
    • Shoot for instant meaning: Given the attention poor consumers and short window available, it pays to ensure that the consumers are not called to do any additional work for decoding what they are supposed to think and feel about the brand
    • Ride the moment: Embrace the topical issues and trends, to engage and be relevant
    • Strike an emotive chord: Well told stories open up consumers for longer format videos
    • Hook them early:  Promise of a fulfilling story arc, emotive journey and humour help in ensuring that consumers stay invested beyond 6 seconds.

    Commenting on this year’s winners, Kantar Insights Division managing director & chief client officer Soumya Mohanty said, “The spread of ads that consumers have perceived to be both creative and effective is an affirmation of the fact that the space for creativity even in context of marketing ROI is infinite. While there is no magic formula for creating such ads, we can start with the right ingredients and refine them by testing them out with consumers. Kantar is pleased to share the learnings that we have had in the area while working with the leading marketeers in India.”

    Key highlights from this year’s report identified for effective and creative TV advertising:

    • Indians love to ride fulfilling story arcs: Stories create room for empathy, engagement, and vivid memories through which one could influence the way in which consumers think & feel about the brands.
    • Touch of drama helps: Just the right kind and quantity of spice delivered through creative storytelling and filmmaking, elevates even the repetitive themes, to make them more personal, relevant and aspirational.
    • License to be extravagant in visualization: Indians are open to suspending their disbelief for the well visualised film.
    • Layer in emotional meaningfulness: Emotive contexts have the potential to make the consumers warm up to even the dry functional categories.
    • Show, not tell: Integrating brand payoffs as an organic plot event in the script is a timeless approach toward creating vivid and persuasive memories.

    Kantar’s collaboration with the Unstereotype Alliance has led to the development of the Unstereotype metric (UM) which Kantar now includes as a measure of gender portrayal in advertising as an integral part of its Link™ communication pretesting solution. Thus, setting a foundation for marketers to review the potential of their creative executions on this dimension to monitor progress over time.

    Unstereotype metric* (UM) in the long term provides learning and context for gender progressive advertisements. UM is now measured for 14,000+ ads across 70 countries, 3,300+ brands and 251 categories.

    ⎯       Unstereotyping in advertisements is predicted to unlock higher marketing ROI. It signifies strong brand equity and is likely to impact short term sales as well. This impact is not only true for women, but progressive male role models also impact business outcomes across categories.

    ⎯       Progressive ads are more effective and trigger positive engagement. They are in general seen to be more enjoyable, relevant, different and even pleasantly surprising.

    ⎯       Unstereotyping affects various aspects of the brand- power, meaningfulness, difference and saliency especially seen in food & beverage, household and personal care categories.

    ⎯       There are clear and present rewards for brands that seek to be at the forefront of embedding progressive gender roles

  • The HUL journey: A growth story powered by purpose, says CEO & MD Sanjiv Mehta

    The HUL journey: A growth story powered by purpose, says CEO & MD Sanjiv Mehta

    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.

    [[{“fid”:”1073049″,”view_mode”:”default”,”fields”:{“format”:”default”,”alignment”:””,”field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]”:false,”field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]”:false},”type”:”media”,”field_deltas”:{“1”:{“format”:”default”,”alignment”:””,”field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]”:false,”field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]”:false}},”attributes”:{“class”:”media-element file-default”,”data-delta”:”1″}}]]

    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.

  • HUL becomes top advertiser in week 13: Barc

    HUL becomes top advertiser in week 13: Barc

    Mumbai: With ad volumes of 5848.21, FMCG firm Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) was the top advertiser in week 13 (26 March to 1 April), according to Broadcast Audience Research Council (Barc) data. It was followed by Reckitt Benckiser at 2477.92.

    Riding the summer wave, Pepsi Foods lodged itself at the third spot with ad volumes of 1083.22. Another beverage brand, Coca-Cola India was next in line.

    Cadbury’s India, Godrej Group, ITC, Amazon Online India, GCMMF, and Colgate Palmolive followed, in that order.

    Horlicks, Harpic Power Plus 10X Max Clean and Lizol All in 1 were the top three advertised brands with ad volumes of 475.52, 360.93, and 315.31 respectively.

    The remaining slots were grabbed by Glow & Lovely Advanced Multivitamin, Sprite, Surf Excel Easy Wash, Mortein Insta, Airtel Cellular Phone Service, Lalithaa Jewellery, and Amazon Prime Video.

  • HUL launches ‘The Bin Boy’ campaign to stress on waste segregation

    HUL launches ‘The Bin Boy’ campaign to stress on waste segregation

    Mumbai: When it comes to waste segregation, most people have accepted its importance but not their own responsibility. Now, Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), via a light-hearted yet powerful film, brings that responsibility to our doorsteps, literally.

    The film titled ‘The Bin Boy’ is made by Ogilvy Mumbai for HUL’s CSR initiative. It revolves around a unique protest by a young boy that garners a lot of attention. The premise and build-up of the narrative are disruptive enough to drive home the seriousness of the message. The video underscores the importance of segregating wet, dry and hazardous waste separately, every day.

    “We needed to find a striking solution to make an unmissable point about the importance of waste segregation,” say Ogilvy India chief creative officers Kainaz Karmakar and Harshad Rajadhyaksha on the thought behind the creative. “While enough people have heard about the need to segregate, it is still a distant, global issue to most. To inspire action, we had to make the issue personal, and do so in an exciting, entertaining way. That’s where we believe this visual disruption of a boy in a bin will capture people’s mind-space. We are also very happy with the way our film director, Buddy, has brought alive the story in such a fun, engaging way leading up to what the boy has to say; which people realise is no laughing matter after all.”

    “The need for urgent action on the issue of waste segregation has never been greater,” says HUL chairman and managing director Sanjiv Mehta. “At HUL, we recognise our role in this context and have been working with leading agencies in the space and the Government to drive what is a simple, positive action that each of us could do. We work towards empowering communities to reach the goal of swachhata and a zero-waste circular economy. Children are the strongest advocates of change in society and are also the strongest drivers. We believe that our latest campaign with a child protagonist will inspire and unite citizens to create a waste-free, greener tomorrow.’’

  • HUL becomes biggest advertiser in week 7: Barc

    HUL becomes biggest advertiser in week 7: Barc

    Mumbai: With ad volumes of 4940.43 (against last week’s 5080.24), FMCG firm Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) was once again the top advertiser in the seventh week of 2022 (12 to 18 February), according to Broadcast Audience Research Council (Barc) data. It was followed by Reckitt Benckiser and Cadbury India at 3626.47 and 922.97.

    Procter & Gamble, Godrej Group, Amazon Online India, ITC, Tata Group, Colgate Palmolive and Marico followed, in that order.

    Harpic Power Plus 10X Max Clean was the most advertised brand with ad volumes of 491.96 (704.34 in week 6). Amazon India was second with 393.59. It was followed by Ultratech Cement (318.51).

     

    Dettol Foaming Handwash, Dettol Toilet Soaps, Dettol Antiseptic Liquid occupied the next three slots. They were followed by Moov Strong Diclofenac Gel, Rummycircle.com, Harpic Bathroom Cleaner and Strepsils Orange (new entrant).

  • HUL biggest advertiser in week 6: Barc

    HUL biggest advertiser in week 6: Barc

    Mumbai: With ad volumes of 5080.24 FMCG firm Hindustan Unilever (HUL) was once again the top advertiser in week 6 (5 to 11 February), according to Barc data. It was followed by other FMCG majors Reckitt Benckiser and Procter & Gamble at 3939.77 and 1168.74.

    Godrej Group, Cadbury’s India, Tata Group, Marico, ITC, GSK and Amazon Online India followed, in that order.

    Harpic Power Plus 10X Max Clean was the most advertised brand with ad volumes of 704.34. Harpic Bathroom Cleaner (342.66) and Ultratech Cement (325.52) were at number two and three. Last week’s top performer Rummycircle.com dropped to fourth position.

    The rest of the slots were occupied by Dettol Antiseptic Liquid, Policybazaar.com, Dettol Toilet Soaps, Dettol Foaming Handwash, Mesho App, and Clinic Plus Shampoo.

  • HUL is top advertiser in week 3: Barc data

    HUL is top advertiser in week 3: Barc data

    Mumbai: Hindustan Lever Ltd (HUL) was once again the top advertiser in the third week of 2022 (15-21 January). As per data released by Broadcast Audience Research Council (Barc), the FMCG major delivered ad volumes 3528.69 for the period. It was followed by Reckitt Benckiser at 3499.69 and Ponds India at 1015.01.

    Brooke Bond Lipton India, Cadburys India, ITC, Godrej Consumer Products, Amazon Online India, LIC, and Colgate Palmolive grabbed the rest of the spots.

    Harpic Power Plus 10X Max Clean led the brands’ list with ad volumes of 579.53. At 437.54 Dettol Antiseptic Liquid was second. Disrupting FMCG dominance at the top three positions, Asian Paints Apex Ultima Protek lodged itself at number three with ad volumes of 304.68. Policy Bazaar.com was another unusual brand at number four.

    Vanish Oxi Action, Lizol, Harpic Bathroom Cleaner, Ultratech Cement, and Horlicks were in the next five positions, respectively. Kia Carens was the new entrant at the tenth position.

  • HUL top advertiser in week 2: Barc

    HUL top advertiser in week 2: Barc

    Mumbai: Maintaining lead in the second week of 2022 (8-14 January), Hindustan Lever Ltd (HUL) delivered ad volumes of 4010.93, as per Barc data. Reckitt Benckiser India was second at 3187.2 (‘000s). Ponds India finished third with ad volumes of 995.42

    Brooke Bond Lipton India, Cadburys India, ITC, Godrej Consumer Products, Procter & Gamble, Amazon Online India, and Colgate Palmolive India were at number four to ten.

    At 631.12, the brands’ list was led by Harpic Power Plus 10X Max Clean. It was followed by Dettol Antiseptic Liquid (494.26) and Dettol Toilet Soaps (346.77) in the next two positions. Lizol All In 1 was in the fourth spot.

    Policybazaar.com and Asian Paints Apex Ultima Protek were the new entrants at number five and six.

    They were followed by Horlicks, Harpic Bathroom Cleaner, Ultratech Cement and Clinic Plus Shampoo.