Hindustan Unilever is reported to have had an 18% increase in its net profit, as it exceeded street expectations, which was as a result of remarkable gains.

Also, the FMCG major’s net sales for the period of three months increased by 15% from the previous year to Rs 5,504 crore, which is ‘marginally’ under the expectation of analysts.

In the first quarter, HUL had a remarkable gain of Rs 51 crore from the sale of properties, it separately had a ‘restructuring’ cost of Rs 5.95 crore as well as a ‘write back of provision’, owing to a brand disposed, in an earlier year, totaling to Rs 9.57 crore.

However, without the exceptional items, HUL’s profit after tax was Rs 578 crore, as analysts on the average had anticipated HUL’s first quarter net profit to be at Rs 587 crore on net sales of Rs 5,529 crore, following the CNBC-TV18 poll. Their shares were being sold down by 0.7% at Rs 323.75 on NSE, in the afternoon trade, as they had reached a decline of Rs 320.05, early in the session.

Moreover, HUL stated: “Commodity inflation continues to be at high levels with cost of goods sold going up 480 basis points. Cost pressures were managed dynamically through aggressive savings programmes coupled with judicious pricing. The overall competitive intensity remained high".