NEW DELHI: FMCG major Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) today reported a 4.03 per cent increase in standalone net profit at Rs 1,059.14 crore for the first quarter ended June 30.
The company had posted a net profit of Rs 1,018.08 crore in the April-June quarter of 2014-15.
The company's net sales climbed 5.53 per cent to Rs 7,973.37 crore in the quarter under review as against Rs 7,555 crore a year ago, the company said in a BSE filing.
HUL Chairman Harish Manwani said: "In a subdued market environment, the business delivered another quarter of healthy volume led growth and strong improvement in operating margin."
He further said: "With the near-term outlook largely dependent on pickup in rural markets and commodity costs expected to remain benign with little or no price growth across select categories, our focus will be to drive market development and simultaneously deliver cost efficiencies to sustain profitable volume led growth."
Overall expenses during the quarter stood at Rs 6,673.63 crore, as against Rs 6,427.97 crore in the year-ago period.
The HUL scrip was trading at Rs 897.50, down 1.68 per cent on BSE.