
Unilever's India arm posts higher quarterly profit on rural demand recovery
The Indian unit of UK's Unilever (ULVR.L), opens new tab, home to the Dove and Surf Excel brands, said its profit rose to 27.32 billion rupees ($311.8 million) for the first quarter ended June 30, from 25.38 billion rupees a year earlier.
Rural areas, which account for just over a third of overall consumer goods sales, have become a bright spot for an industry that is struggling with higher living costs and slow wage growth in large cities.
For Hindustan Unilever, revenue climbed 4% to 157.47 billion rupees, helped by growth in its home care as well as beauty and wellness businesses.
Shares in Hindustan Unilever were up marginally after the results.
($1 = 87.6300 Indian rupees)
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If people were confronted now with actual re-entry terms – paying in, free movement, joining the euro, no special deals – their answers might change. The mood might also be different if the far right continues its gains in EU countries, dividing the union's values. What might it take to throw off the economic, political and psychological darkness of Brexit? A clever – or Cleverly? – new Tory leader daring to break with the past, confessing the error of Brexit and taking us back into the EU, once and for all. It may take another generation to recover. Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist