The margins of Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL), India’s largest FMCG company, were under pressure in the first quarter of the current financial year. It posted a 15 per cent decline in the net profit of Rs 259 crore in the first quarter ended March 2005, compared to Rs 302.91 crore posted during the same period of the previous fiscal.HLL is to merge five of its subsidiaries with itself. However, the company’s total income rose 6.9 per cent to Rs 2,506.40 crore during the quarter under review, as against Rs 2,353.34 crore recorded in the first quarter of the previous fiscal, HLL Chairman M.S. Banga told reporters in a teleconference. HLL’s home and personal care (HPC) sales grew by 9.6 per cent with volumes growing by 6.6 per cent, while investment in brand building continued with an increase in advertising spends of 12 per cent in HPC, he said.
