Horlicks sales drop by 32% in January-June

Unilever Consumer Care Limited has reported a 12 per cent year-on-year decline in revenue generated from the sales of its flagship item – Horlicks – in the first six months of the current year.

Meanwhile, the volume of Horlicks sales fell by 32 per cent in January-June 2023 on a year-on-year basis.

Despite a sales drop in its key product, the listed multinational firm secured a higher net profit in H1 of the ongoing year, thanks to a cut in operational expenses, as per a regulatory filing posted on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) website Tuesday.

The company’s profit after tax in the first six months of 2023 stood at Tk 47.73 crore against the profit of Tk 47.29 crore made in the corresponding period one year ago.

The multinational company cut its operating costs by over 21.5 per cent in January–June this year from that in the same period last year.

The company on Tuesday said in a disclosure, the first half yearly profit increased slightly this year due mainly to the efficiency in operating expenses, increased finance income as well as one-off benefit coming out of assessment of past liabilities and obligation in light of current business development.

The company also reported an overall revenue decline of 9 per cent in the current year’s first half year-on-year.

The company’s revenue from sales of glucose powder, however, rose by 8.11 per cent in H1 this year over the same period last year.

As per its unaudited financial report, Unilever Consumer Care earned Tk 163.09 crore in revenue from the sales of Horlicks during January–June 2023, compared to Tk 186.36 crore in the same period last year.

The consumer care brand sold 2428 metric tonnes of Horlicks in the first Half of 2023, which was 3572 metric tonnes in the same period of 2022.

On the other hand, it logged revenue of Tk 27.98 crore from glucose powder sales in the first half of 2023, which was Tk 25.88 crore in the same period the year before.

The company’s earnings per share (EPS) rose to Tk 19.02 in H1 of 2023 from Tk 18.33 for the same period a year earlier.

Its net cash flow per share (NOCFPS) was Tk 2.62 for January–June 2023 against Tk 8.26 for January–June 2022, and net asset value (NAV) per share was Tk 91.27 as on June 30 this year, which was Tk 87.25 as on December 31, 2022.

Unilever had purchased an approximate 82 per cent stake in GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Bangladesh, which has been listed on the bourses since 1976, from Setfirst in June 2020 for Tk 2,020.8 crore, making it the largest transaction by a single company on the Dhaka bourse.

Under the acquisition, Unilever got ownership of GSK’s iconic health food and drink (HFD) portfolio brands, including Horlicks, Boost, and Glaxose-D.

Horlicks, the company’s top-selling product, accounts for as much as 90 per cent of its total revenue.

Unilever Consumer Care shares closed at Tk 2,038 per share on the DSE on Monday.