KARACHI: Unilever Pakistan Foods Limited on Monday announced a sharp growth of 55 per cent in net profit for the quarter ended September 30, 2021. The company made a profit of Rs1.19 billion for the quarter July – September 2021 as compared with Rs767 million in the same quarter of the last year.
The company declared Rs187.08 as earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter under review as compared with EPS of Rs120.52 in the same quarter of the last year.
The board of directors of Unilever Pakistan Foods Limited in its meeting held on October 25, 2021 approved the un-audited condensed interim financial information for the nine months ended September 30, 2021.
The after tax profit for nine months period ended September 30, 2021 has also surged by 45 per cent. The company announced the net profit of Rs3.61 billion during January – September 2021 as compared with Rs2.49 billion in the same period of the last year.
The company announced Rs567.20 EPS for the period under review as compared with Rs391.53 in the same period of the last year.
The company said that sales grew by 28 per cent on the back of strong fundamentals i.e. brand equity, wider reach and effective spending on advertisement and promotion.
The growth was broad based with both retail business and food solution delivering strong result of easing lockdowns.
Gross margin increased by 1.23 per cent to 43.69 per cent versus same period last year, through a combination of pricing, better cost absorption and a rigorous savings agenda.
EPS increased by 45 per cent versus the same period last year driven by growth, margin improvement and tax credits pertaining to capital expenditure.
About the future outlook of the country, the company said that Pakistan’s economy has shown resilience in the face of global COVID-19 pandemic, witnessing GDP growth of 3.94 per cent in fiscal year 2021 as a result of timely monetary and fiscal measures.
This was supported by a nation-wide vaccination drive which has, so far, played an important role in successfully fighting COVID. With restriction easing out further, commercial activity expected to return to pre-covid levels.
“However, rising global commodity prices and energy costs coupled with sharp rupee devaluation is expected to further aggravate the inflationary headwinds which in turn, may have significant implications on the economic activity in the country,” the company said.
“In such challenging times, the management remains committed to navigate by leveraging the power of our brands and our global and local expertise to drive efficiencies within the value chain. We will continue our efforts on providing value to our consumers to meet their daily needs and on delivering competitive, consistent, responsible, and profitable growth benefitting all stakeholders.”
