{"id":25252,"date":"2026-04-30T14:37:53","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T09:07:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trending.niftytrader.in\/?p=25252"},"modified":"2026-04-30T14:37:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T09:07:53","slug":"hul-q4-profit-up-21pct-stock-falls-3pct","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.niftytrader.in\/markets\/hul-q4-profit-up-21pct-stock-falls-3pct\/","title":{"rendered":"HUL Q4 profit rises 21% to Rs 2,992 crore; stock falls 3% post results"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hindustan Unilever<\/a> posted a 21.4% jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 2,992 crore for the January-March quarter of FY26, up from Rs 2,464 crore a year ago, the company said on Thursday. Shares slipped over 3% in trade, with the stock changing hands at Rs 2,247 on NSE, and that’s after HUL had already rallied 13% in the month running up to the announcement. The stock had priced in a good quarter. It got one. Didn’t matter.<\/p>\n

HUL Q4 Revenue Up 8%, Underlying Volume Growth at 6%\u2014Best in 12 Quarters<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The headline profit flatters. Strip out the Nutritionalab stake sale proceeds, and core PAT was Rs 2,711 crore, up just 4% year-over-year. The volume number, though, is harder to dismiss. HUL recorded 6% underlying volume growth and 7% underlying sales growth in Q4, its strongest quarterly performance in 12 quarters, or since Q4 FY23. Revenue came in at Rs 16,207 crore, up 8.39% from Rs 14,955 crore in Q4 FY25. Nirmal Bang had estimated volume growth at 3% heading in. HUL nearly doubled that. Within Home Care, the liquids portfolio accelerated its double-digit growth trajectory, while powders and bars also recorded a step-up in performance, a sign the volume beat was broad-based, not concentrated in one subcategory.<\/p>\n

HUL EBITDA Margin FY26: 23.7% in Q4 but Full-Year Margins Under Pressure<\/strong><\/h2>\n

EBITDA came in at Rs 3,841 crore, up 6% year-on-year, with margins at 23.7% for the quarter, a sequential improvement of 40 basis points over Q3. The full-year read is less clean. FY26 EBITDA margin at 23.6% was at the higher end of guidance but still 70 basis points below FY25. Palm oil stayed inflationary through most of the year. The Kwality Wall’s demerger helped; removing a structurally low-margin business lifts the reported margin floor without any actual operational improvement. That’s worth keeping in mind when reading the margin recovery narrative.<\/p>\n

What’s less discussed: HUL’s advertising and promotional spend for Q4 stood at Rs 1,509 crore, up 6% year-on-year, and for the full year FY26 came in at Rs 6,261 crore, up Rs 270 crore versus FY25, amounting to 9.8% of turnover. The company is spending more to defend volume share even as input costs stay elevated. That’s a margin headwind that doesn’t show up cleanly in the EBITDA line.<\/p>\n

HUL Home Care Posts Highest Growth in 11 Quarters; 20 Billion-Rupee Brands Now<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Home Care posted revenue of Rs 6,344 crore with 9% underlying sales growth, its highest in 11 quarters, led by high single-digit volume growth. Fabric Wash delivered double-digit growth, while Household Care posted high single-digit growth.<\/p>\n

Beauty & Wellbeing was the other standout. The segment recorded revenue of Rs 3,698 crore with 8% underlying sales growth, driven by Hair Care’s strong double-digit performance. In skin care and color cosmetics, strong performance in the premium portfolio was offset by subdued mass skin care. The Minimalist acquisition, completed in FY25 for Rs 2,706 crore, is now embedded in the B&W portfolio management. The D2C brand’s online distribution strength as part of the premiumisation push, though no standalone revenue figure was disclosed for the brand this quarter. Vaseline and Sunsilk both crossed the Rs 1,000 crore annual turnover milestone in FY26, taking HUL’s total number of billion-rupee brands to 20.<\/p>\n

HUL Personal Care Revenue Up 5% but Volumes Decline in Q4 FY26<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Personal Care reported revenue of Rs 2,229 crore with 5% underlying sales growth, but underlying volume growth saw a low single-digit decline. Skin cleansing held up. Dove and Lux both delivered, but the overall segment volume number turned negative. That means the revenue growth was price-led. In a quarter where Home Care and B&W both delivered genuine volume expansion, Personal Care’s volume dip stands out as the one unresolved problem heading into FY27. Foods posted revenue of Rs 3,566 crore with 5% underlying sales growth, led by Lifestyle Nutrition and Coffee, with Coffee sustaining strong double-digit growth momentum.<\/p>\n

HUL Dividend FY26: Rs 22 Final Dividend Declared, Record Date June 23, 2026<\/strong><\/h2>\n

FY26 turnover from continuing operations rose 5% to Rs 63,763 crore. The board proposed a final dividend of Rs 22 per share; combined with the Rs 19 interim dividend declared in October 2025, the total FY26 payout comes to Rs 9,633 crore. That’s Rs 41 per share for the year, down from FY25’s Rs 53, though the FY25 figure included a Rs 10 special dividend tied to the ice cream demerger that hasn’t repeated.<\/p>\n

On the outlook, CEO Priya Nair flagged commodity and currency volatility from geopolitical tensions as the primary headwind, with the company leaning on supply chain resilience and calibrated pricing to manage costs. Bonanza analyst Prathamesh Kadival put it more directly: with underlying PAT growth tepid despite the top-line improvement, sustained pricing and savings will be essential to justify the stock’s premium valuation against ongoing commodity headwinds. Jefferies has a Buy rating on HUL with a target price of Rs 2,850, roughly 27% upside from current levels.<\/p>\n

Also Read: HINDUSTAN UNILEVER NSE Stock Price Today<\/a><\/p>\n

FAQ<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Q: Was the 21% profit jump real or inflated by one-offs?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Inflated. Excluding the Nutritionalab stake sale gains, core PAT was Rs 2,711 crore, up just 4% year-on-year. The reported figure of Rs 2,992 crore includes that one-time exceptional income.<\/p>\n

Q: Why did HUL stock fall 3% despite a strong quarter?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

HUL had already gained 13% in the month before results; the beat was priced in. FIIs had trimmed holdings ahead of the results, likely linked to global allocation shifts rather than company-specific concerns. Full-year margin compression of 70 basis points and the Personal Care volume decline gave institutional sellers additional cover.<\/p>\n

Q: What is HUL’s dividend record date for FY26?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The record date for the final dividend of Rs 22 per share has been fixed as June 23, 2026. The dividend is subject to shareholder approval at the AGM.<\/p>\n

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Hindustan Unilever posted a 21.4% jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 2,992 crore for the January-March quarter of FY26, up from Rs 2,464 crore a year ago, the company said on Thursday. Shares slipped over 3% in trade, with the stock changing hands at Rs 2,247 on NSE, and that’s after HUL had already […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[615],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[1523],"class_list":{"0":"post-25252","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-stock-market-news"}," _eael_post_view_count":0,"authors":[{"term_id":1523,"user_id":11,"is_guest":0,"slug":"nikki","display_name":"Nikki Lodha","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ae2e265bd56e0e890c866fbaa55d29846ba20cc5372adf666652268816af117e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niftytrader.in\/markets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niftytrader.in\/markets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niftytrader.in\/markets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niftytrader.in\/markets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niftytrader.in\/markets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25252"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.niftytrader.in\/markets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25256,"href":"https:\/\/www.niftytrader.in\/markets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25252\/revisions\/25256"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niftytrader.in\/markets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niftytrader.in\/markets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niftytrader.in\/markets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niftytrader.in\/markets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25252"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niftytrader.in\/markets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=25252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}