HUL share price rises nearly 2% after firm reports 21% rise in Q2 net profit

Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) share price rose in early trade today after the firm reported a 21.18 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) rise in standalone net profit for second quarter.

HUL share price rose 1.89% to Rs 2,052.90 compared to the previous close of Rs 2,014.70 on BSE. HUL share has gained 5.03% in the last five sessions. The FMCG share is trading 3.15% away from the 52 week high of Rs 2101.50.

HUL share price has gained 33% in last one year and risen 12.51% since the beginning of this year. 19 of 37 brokerages rate the stock "buy" or 'outperform', 15 "hold" and two "underperform" and  one "sell", according to analysts' recommendations tracked by Reuters.

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The firm reported profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 1,848 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2019, helped by home care, and beauty and personal care verticals. Excluding corporate tax rate benefit, PAT stood at Rs 1,832 crore, up 20 per cent.

"The company had posted a profit of Rs 1,525 crore in the corresponding quarter last year," HUL said.

Net sales of the country's largest consumer goods maker increased to Rs 9,708 crore in Q2FY20 as compared to Rs 9,138 crore in Q2FY19. During the quarter under review, total income grew by 5.16 per cent to Rs 10,032 crore as against Rs 9,539 crore, helped by its home-care and food and refreshment portfolios.

The earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 21 per cent to Rs 2,443 crore from Rs 2,019 crore in the same quarter last fiscal. The company said that its board has declared an interim dividend of Rs 11 per equity share of face value Re 1 each for the financial year ending March 31, 2020. "Dividend will be paid to the shareholders on or after November 05, 2019," it said.