Shares of India’s largest FMCG player, Hindustan Unilever Ltd, were trading 2% below on 20 October after the company announced its quarterly report for the July-September quarter.

The FMCG major reported a 3.8% year-on-year (YoY) increase in its net profit at Rs Rs 2,717 crore in the September quarter against Rs 2,616 crore reported in the year-ago quarter.

The total revenue from operations of the company grew by 3.6% YoY to Rs 15,276 crore for the September quarter against the Rs 14,751 crore reported in the same quarter of the previous fiscal year.

The EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) of the company increased by 9% to Rs 3,694 crore for the September quarter, whereas the margins for the quarter under review expanded by 130 basis points to 24.6% for the quarter under review.

Rohit Jawa, Managing Director and CEO of the company, said, “Looking forward, we remain cautiously optimistic. FMCG demand is likely to continue to gradually recover with tailwinds from the upcoming festive season, sustained buoyancy of services and the government’s thrust on capex. At the same time, we need to be watchful of volatile global commodity prices as well as the impact of monsoon on crop output and reservoir levels. In this context, our focus is to provide superior value to our consumers, drive competitive volume growth, and invest behind our brand.”

At 1:51 pm, the shares of Hindustan Unilever were trading 2.00% below at Rs 2,496 on NSE.