UNILEVER POSTS STRONG Q3 NUMBERS,THANKS TO INDIA: Company says passing on GST benefits to consumers helped it boost sales

摘要

The world's second largest consumer goods company,Unilever,said its Indian market delivered strong volume growth in the third quarter,even as most other regions depended largely on price hikes to boost sales.The commentary comes as Indian subsidiary Hindustan Unilever(HUL)delivers its fourth straight quarter of double-digit volume growth for the July-September period.Last week,HUL said it had delivered a 10 per cent volume growth for the three months ended September 30,ahead of Street estimates,which had pegged volume growth in the region of 7-9 per cent for the quarter.Unilever said its overall sales growth for the July-September period was 3.8 per cent,led by higher prices in most categories across countries,India being the exception.Had Argentina's pricing growth also been factored in,then overall sales growth for the quarter would have been 4.5 per cent,the company said.Argentina's price-led growth was excluded due to hyper inflation in that market,Unilever said.