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HUL spikes on robust earnings
Shares of Hindustan Unilever advanced close to its all time high of Rs. 464 after the FMCG giant posted quarter results post market hours on Monday that beat estimates.
HUL’s net profit for Q1 FY13 surged to Rs. 13.3bn from Rs.6.3bn in the same period a year earlier, comfortably beating consensus estimates Rs.6.94bn.
Shares of HUL were trading at Rs. 463.40, up 4.6% over the previous close. It had touched a day’s high of Rs. 463.75 and a day’s low of Rs. 450. The total traded quantity of the shares stood at 5.64 lakh shares on the BSE.
Wipro acquires Yardley business in UK
Wipro Limited today announced that it has signed an agreement with Lornamead Group to acquire the Yardley business in the UK and many other select countries of Europe (excluding Germany and Austria). This transaction further expands the geographic reach of the Yardley portfolio already owned by Wipro. Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting (the FMCG arm of Wipro Limited) acquired the Yardley portfolio for Asia, Middle East, North Africa and Australasia from Lornamead in December 2009.
Wipro will also acquire the “Woods of Windsor” business, another heritage brand in the UK, which is well known for its floral fragrance led portfolio in personal care segment.
Yardley brand has performed very well since acquisition by Wipro. The Revenues in 2008-09 prior year to the acquisition period (December 2009) was Rs. 837 mln and grew to Rs. 1849 mln in last year FY 12, heralding a growth of more than 2 times in a span of 3 years.
“Given the brand’s performance it was only logical to own both the brands in its home market in the UK which in FY 12 clocked a Revenue of Rs. 296 mln (USD 6.2 mln). We will be able to leverage the brand’s core values and offer new products to consumers across our markets and are confident that we will be able to develop the Yardley brand further especially by using our strong R&D and international footprint. Yardley in the UK will see sustained brand building initiatives,” said Nagender Arya, Regional Director (East Asia, Middle East and Africa), Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting.
Established in 1770, Yardley is one of the world’s oldest living brands in the personal care category with fragrance, bath & shower and skin care products. It is a premium priced brand and is one of the few personal care brands which holds prestigious Royal Warrants.
Infocus News
Rural India...An emerging powerhouse: Harish Manwani
Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) Chairman, Harish Manwani, while addressing shareholders at the company’s 79th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at Mumbai today spoke about the exciting growth opportunity in Rural India and how it is becoming the epicenter of India’s growth story.
In the speech titled ‘Rural India – An Emerging Powerhouse,’ Manwani said, “It is often said that there are two Indias – Bharat which exists in the villages and India which thrives in the urban areas. If our country has to have real progress and make its mark on the global stage, then these two Indias must converge. Prosperity will have to come to our villages, towns and cities.”
Agriculture and Beyond
Referring to the good progress made in the last two decades in Rural India, Manwani spoke about how there was new hope and a new sense of energy driving rural India. Drawing attention to the pressures that rural growth would bring on natural resources, Manwani said, “The explosion in rural consumption and growing competition for scarce resources demands that we embrace a new collaborative model of development. All stakeholders – government, NGOs, civil society and corporates – have a role in enabling this growth while overcoming the attendant challenges. With the right kind of public-private partnerships we can address these challenges by finding innovative solutions and build on the opportunities.”
He also spoke about the various challenges facing rural India. Speaking about the need to improve our agricultural productivity levels, Manwani said, “Consider that if only our agricultural growth can pick up to 4% as envisioned by the Planning Commission, the cascading impact that rural prosperity will have on the national economy could add up to an additional 2% to our national GDP growth and enable us to go for double digit growth.”
Manwani urged for the need to go beyond agriculture for rural India to achieve accelerated and sustainable growth. He called for a new vision for agriculture in India on the lines of the New Vision for Agriculture (NVA) articulated by the World Economic Forum which envisions a global agriculture system that harnesses the power of markets and multi-stakeholder collaboration to feed the world, protect our planet and create prosperity.Read More…
Results
Greenply Industries Q1 results up 39% at Rs. 179.7mn
Greenply Industries Ltd, the leader in India’s interior-infrastructure industry, today reported standalone Net Sales of Rs. 4.3054bn for Q1 FY13, a jump of 22.20% as against Rs. 3.5232bn posted in the same period of the last fiscal.
Net Profit for the quarter recorded a growth of 38.66% at Rs. 179.7mn, as compared to Rs. 129.6mn posted in the corresponding quarter of last fiscal. This was primarily due to improved performances by the new MDF and Laminate units at Pantnagar, Uttarakhand and Nalagarh, Himachal Pradesh respectively. Earnings per share (diluted) for Q1FY13 stood at Rs. 7.44, as compared to Rs. 5.37 in Q1FY12.
EBIDTA (excluding foreign currency gains / losses and other income) was up by 33.92% at Rs. 566.9mn as compared to Rs. 423.3mn in the same quarter of previous year. EBIDTA Margin was up by 114 basis points at 13.16% Vs 12.02% year-on-year. Earnings Per Share (EPS) on diluted basis for Q1FY13 was Rs. 7.44 as compared to Rs. 5.37 in Q1FY12.
Saurabh Mittal, Joint Managing Director & CEO, Greenply Industries said “We have achieved a growth of 22% and 39% in Net Sales and Net Profits respectively during the year and we expect better results in future on achieving optimum utilisations and better value-mix in the new MDF and Laminate plants.
Dabur India Q1 results zooms 30% at Rs. 1189.20mn
Colgate Palmolive Q1 results up 16% at Rs. 1174.20mn
ITC Q1 net profit up 20.2% at Rs. 16.02bn
Domestic News
LG’s global “World Record Campaign” to jump - start in India
LG Electronics India rolls out an innovative 360-degree global marketing initiative, “World Record Campaign” with the aim of celebrating LG’s historical focus on product excellence and innovation over the past 54 years and to highlight LG’s technical excellence. Innovative products with unique features such as CINEMA SCREEN 3D TV with the world’s thinnest bezel and the world’s first “door-in-door” refrigerator are just two of the products which will be featured in the series.
India will be the first market to launch the ambitious campaign which will incorporate traditional advertising, marketing, public relations, strong employee communication and a full-fledged digital campaign. Starting with LG Brand Shops, traditional communications and in-shop placement of World Record point-of-sale signage will provide product information to shoppers to give them a better understanding of the LG brand and products.
Social media innovation will be used to better communicate the World Record characteristics of LG’s hero models. The World Record (WR) Man avatar will play the role of the brand ambassador to engage audiences on social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter. WR Man marketing will be one of the main online activities to increase recognition of LG, especially with reference to LG’s technical excellence.
The character will communicate LG’s focus on technology and innovation in various product categories by highlighting LG technology that is either the world’s first or the best. Interactive online sessions with WR Man will also play a part in the campaign.
Commenting on the campaign, Soon Kwon, Managing Director of LG India said; “This campaign is an extension of our effort to highlight style, technology and design of our consumer electronics and appliance products. For instance, LG introduced the world’s first and most advanced home entertainment technology in film-patterned retarder, or FPR, in our 3D TVs. Read more…
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Global News
Apple earnings miss Wall Street estimates
Apple's profit and sales fell short of analysts’ estimates for only the second time since 2003, as customers deferred iPhone purchases while waiting for a new model to be introduced later in the year.The company’s sales climbed at the slowest pace since mid-2009.The iPhone and iPad maker also gave lower-than-expected sales and earnings guidance.
Apple reported a quarterly profit of US$8.8bn, or US$9.32 a share.
Sales rose 23% to US$35bn.
Analysts had predicted profit of $10.37 a share on revenue of $37.2bn. Apple fell to as low as US$565 in extended trading. The shares had slipped less than 1% to US$600.92 at the close in New York. It is up 48% year-to-date. Apple is predicting further declines in sales and profit for the current period from last quarter.
The company said that sales would fall to ~US$34bn, and that profit would fall to US$7.65 a share. That compares with predictions by analysts for sales of US$38bn and profit of US$10.27 a share. The 26mn iPhones sold last quarter compares with 28.4mn average prediction by analysts.
"Speculation that Apple is preparing a new iPhone has caused some pause in sales," Apple Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Peter Oppenheimer said on a conference call.
Apple sold 17mn iPads, compared with the 15.4mn projected.
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