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Despite higher sales revenue, Unilever Consumer Care's profit plummeted 38 per cent year-on-year to Tk 138 million in the first quarter through March this year due to higher costs and the re-imposition of royalty charge by the parent company.
The Horlicks manufacturer's earnings per share (EPS) fell sharply to Tk 7.16 in the January-March quarter from Tk 11.61 in the same quarter a year ago, according to a stock exchange filing on Wednesday.
Unilever Consumer Care, a part of Unilever Group, however, saw a slight 1.50 per cent year-on-year growth in sales to Tk 954 million in the quarter.
Sales of Horlicks, the most popular health food drink, rose more than 2 per cent year-on-year while glucose powder sales dropped 0.51 per cent year-on-year in the quarter to March.
The company attributed the decline in profit to the re-imposition of technology and trademark royalty by the parent company from the third quarter of 2024, increasing operating expenses. Operating expenses escalated 28 per cent year-on-year to Tk 196 million in Q1 of 2025.
The increase in expenses was partially offset through operating efficiency and effective cash investment resulting in a higher net finance income, said the company in its earnings note.
Its net finance income almost doubled year-on-year to Tk 88 million in the quarter to March this year.
The cost of sales, which includes all associated costs to produce goods, stood at Tk 659 million in January-March quarter this year, accounting for 69 per cent of total sales, a sharp rise from 57 per cent of total sales in the same quarter of the year before.
The multinational company's annual profit had dropped 31 per cent year-on-year to Tk 667 million in 2024, mainly due to lower sales and royalty charge.
Despite the lower profit, the board of directors of the company declared a 520 per cent cash dividend for 2024, highest since 2019.
In 2020, Unilever Group acquired 82 per cent of GlaxoSmithKline's health food and drinks business in Bangladesh worth more than Tk 20 billion and renamed it as Unilever Consumer Care focusing on consumer healthcare nutrition business.
Meanwhile, the stock fell 1.3 per cent to Tk 2338.1 per share on Wednesday on the Dhaka Stock Exchange.
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