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Release
August 2026 · rev 1
Opportunities PMS · Published
As at 31 Aug 2026 · IST₹ · ₹ cr · BSE 500 TRI
Present
Internal working platform. Published figures are extracted from the August 2026 source package and reviewed; reference prices and fundamentals are unlicensed working data, not for redistribution. Past performance is not indicative of future returns.
Company Atlas/FMCG/Hindustan Unilever
NSE: HINDUNILVR· FMCGCore · Aug 26Large cap

Hindustan Unilever

Broadest lever on the volume recovery

Last close
₹1,863.80
29 Sept 2026 · reference
1D · 1M
−1.7% · −7.3%
price-only
Weight
3.3%
31 Jul 2026 · Aug rank 9
Thesis review
8 Sep 2026
Why We Own, p32
Coverage owner: Research (per book); latest results Q Jun-26Buoyant AIF I Top 30 Holdings - Aug 2026.pdf · p1Buoyant_Why_We_Own_What_We_Own_Sep2026.pdf (portfolio as of 31 July 2026) · p32Screener ↗Tijori ↗NSE ↗
OverviewBusiness & segmentsChartsFinancialsValuationThesisRisks & catalystsCompetitorsResearch & documents
What the company does

Hindustan Unilever · Household & Personal Products

Hindustan Unilever Ltd. is an India-based consumer goods company. The Company’s consumer goods business comprises of home and personal care, foods and refreshments. Its segments are home care, which includes detergent bars, detergent powders, detergent liquids, scourers and water business; Beauty & Personal Care, which includes products in the categories of oral care, skin care, hair care, deodorants, color cosmetics and salon services; Foods & Refreshment, which includes staples, culinary products, tea and coffee and frozen desserts. The Company also provides health food drinks such as Horlicks and Boost.

Full profile (Yahoo)

Hindustan Unilever Limited, a fast-moving consumer goods company, manufactures and sells food, home care, and personal care products in India and internationally. It operates through Home Care, Beauty & Wellbeing, Personal Care, Foods, and Others segments. The company offers detergent bars, detergent powders, detergent liquids, and scourers; skin care and hair care products; skin cleansing, oral care, bodywash, and deodorants; and culinary products, such as tomato based products, fruit based products, soups, etc., as well as tea, coffee, functional nutrition drinks, and lifestyle nutrition products. It is also involved in beauty salons, job work, real estate, and discharge trust business. Hindustan Unilever Limited was founded in 1888 and is headquartered in Mumbai, India.

Sector (Yahoo)
Consumer Defensive
Industry (Yahoo)
Household & Personal Products
Employees
17,477
Website
hul.co.in

Key people: Ms. Priya Nair (CEO, MD & Director) · Mr. Niranjan Kumar Gupta (CFO, Executive Director of Finance & Director) · Mr. Bittianda Ponnappa Biddappa (Chief People, Transformation and Sustainability Officer & Executive Director) · Mr. Yogesh Mulgaonkar (Head of Investor Relations & Head of Finance, Personal Care) · Ms. Radhika Kartik Shah (Company Secretary & Compliance Officer) · Dr. Vivek Mittal (Executive Director of Legal & Corporate Affairs)

Who are the competitors of Hindustan Unilever?

Hindustan Unilever major competitors are Nestle India, Varun Beverages, Britannia Industries, Godrej Consumer Prod, Dabur India, P&G Hygiene & Health, Hindustan Foods. Market Cap of Hindustan Unilever is ₹4,57,360 Crs. While the median market cap of its peers are ₹89,033 Crs.

Is Hindustan Unilever financially stable compared to its competitors?

Hindustan Unilever seems to be less financially stable compared to its competitors.Altman Z score of Hindustan Unilever is 11.08 and is ranked 5 out of its 8 competitors.

Snapshot and what to watch · Tijori · 11 Sep 2026
  • Hindustan Unilever sells home care, beauty and wellbeing, foods and personal care led by Dove, Vim, Pond's and Horlicks. It demerged ice cream in December 2025 and now focuses on four divisions.
  • Underlying sales grew 10% in Q1FY27, the highest in 13 quarters. Volume grew 5% with broad-based growth across divisions.
  • Earnings are driven by premium Dove and Vim liquids and market-making in bodywash and deodorants. Foods is led by Horlicks Protein and repositioned Kissan.
  • It owns 21 brands with over ₹1,000 crore in sales. It is India's largest beauty company.
  • It is raising capex to 3% of turnover for premium and liquid capacity. New spaces aim for about 20% of incremental sales.
  • It is mid-ramp on volume-led growth. Management expects FY27 growth above FY26. Near-term profit depends on holding Q1FY27 momentum within 22-24% EBITDA margin.
  • Personal care remains the weakest division with price-led growth. Its volume recovery is still pending.

Yahoo profile 23 Sept 2026 · Tijori 23 Sept 2026

Segments

Revenue mix and market share

Product Wise Break-Up
  • Beauty & Personal Care38.7%
  • Home Care37.8%
  • Foods & Refreshment20.1%
  • Others3.5%
Location Wise Break-Up
  • India96.1%
  • Rest of the World3.9%
Operating Profit Break-Up
  • Beauty & Personal care45.7%
  • Home care31.6%
  • Foods & Refreshment19.3%
  • Others3.4%
Capex - Segment Wise
  • Beauty & Personal Care34.9%
  • Home Care33.8%
  • Foods & Refreshment31.3%
Asset Break-Up
  • India99.2%
  • Others0.8%

Latest reported mix as compiled by Tijori from company disclosures; percentages of revenue.

Operating metrics

Company-reported KPIs (Tijori) · latest quarter

As the company reports them. They can differ from the ratio table on the Financials tab, which uses Tijori's own definitions (for example NIM on average total assets rather than on interest-earning assets); the Cross-check panel there lines both up.

Advertisement Spend as a % of Total Sales9.56 % 2026-06
Volume Growth5 % 2026-06
Business model

How the company earns

India's largest FMCG company (Unilever subsidiary) selling home care (Surf, Rin, Vim), beauty & wellbeing (Dove, Lakme, Ponds), personal care (Lifebuoy, Lux, Closeup) and foods (Horlicks, Kissan, Knorr, Bru) through ~9 million retail outlets. FY26 consolidated revenue was Rs 64,468 cr with 23-24% EBITDA margin; the ice-cream business (Kwality Wall's) was demerged and listed separately on 16-Feb-2026. Market-share leadership in most categories it operates in (company claims ~9 of 10 Indian households use an HUL brand); exact category shares not disclosed in sources used.

Economics and valuation note (book)

Stock at Rs 1,960 has de-rated from ~Rs 2,250 (May-26) after the Q1FY27 miss; ICICI Direct values at 46x FY28E vs current ~42x FY27E / ~36x FY28E on its numbers - below the ~50-60x forward PE HUL commanded in 2020-22 (5-yr average not sourced; treat as qualitative). EV/EBITDA 30.1x; dividend yield 2.1%.

Competitive position · why this and not peers
Nestle IndiaNestle trades at 72.7x trailing PE (mcap Rs 2.70 lakh cr) vs HUL 41.8x; Nestle's 74% ROE is superior but HUL offers 2.1% dividend yield vs 0.9% and a broader, less milk-price-exposed portfolio.
ITCITC is cheaper (16.7x PE, 5.5% yield) but Jun-26 quarter sales fell 10.9% YoY and 3-yr sales CAGR is 4%; tobacco regulatory overhang and hotels demerger make it a value/yield play rather than a volume-growth compounder.
DaburDabur is cheaper at 33.7x but 3-yr sales/profit CAGR is only 5%/4% with ROE of 17% vs HUL's ~21-24% (3-yr avg) and Q1FY27 double-digit USG.
Segment economics

Reported revenue mix

Product Wise Break-Up

share of revenue, %
  • Beauty & Personal Care
    38.7%
  • Home Care
    37.8%
  • Foods & Refreshment
    20.1%
  • Others
    3.5%
  • Soaps
    0.0%
  • Detergents
    0.0%

Share of revenue as disclosed in filings (Tijori normalisation). Segment profit measure: not disclosed in this source — segment EBIT/EBITDA/PBT are not shown rather than estimated. Eliminations and unallocated costs not available here.

Location Wise Break-Up

share of revenue, %
  • India
    96.1%
  • Rest of the World
    3.9%

Share of revenue as disclosed in filings (Tijori normalisation). Segment profit measure: not disclosed in this source — segment EBIT/EBITDA/PBT are not shown rather than estimated. Eliminations and unallocated costs not available here.

Operating Profit Break-Up

share of revenue, %
  • Beauty & Personal care
    45.7%
  • Home care
    31.6%
  • Foods & Refreshment
    19.3%
  • Others
    3.4%

Share of revenue as disclosed in filings (Tijori normalisation). Segment profit measure: not disclosed in this source — segment EBIT/EBITDA/PBT are not shown rather than estimated. Eliminations and unallocated costs not available here.

Capex - Segment Wise

share of revenue, %
  • Beauty & Personal Care
    34.9%
  • Home Care
    33.8%
  • Foods & Refreshment
    31.3%

Share of revenue as disclosed in filings (Tijori normalisation). Segment profit measure: not disclosed in this source — segment EBIT/EBITDA/PBT are not shown rather than estimated. Eliminations and unallocated costs not available here.

Asset Break-Up

share of revenue, %
  • India
    99.2%
  • Others
    0.8%

Share of revenue as disclosed in filings (Tijori normalisation). Segment profit measure: not disclosed in this source — segment EBIT/EBITDA/PBT are not shown rather than estimated. Eliminations and unallocated costs not available here.

Industry cycle

FMCG chapter

FMCG — 9.5%: the main stake, for the first time in ten years

Every era in Indian markets has a sector nobody wants right before it becomes the main stake. Post-COVID, demonetisation, GST and a capex-first fiscal stance took money out of household hands and consumption went into a five-year hiatus. Starting in 2024 the wheel turned: states began putting money directly into households — women-centric cash transfers alone run at ~₹1.7 lakh crore a year across fifteen-plus states and 120 million beneficiaries, and our aggregate estimate of the welfare shift is close to ₹6 lakh crore, or 1.7% of GDP. Add GST 2.0 (September 2025 moved soaps, toothpaste, biscuits, noodles, apparel under ₹2,500 to the 5% slab), 125 bp of rate cuts and a normal monsoon, and the income impulse is real. The evidence is arriving: ex-cigarette staples volumes are at a two-year high, rural volumes have out-grown urban for seven straight quarters, and we expect a broad set of companies to print double-digit growth this year. The setup mirrors 2021 in reverse. Then, consumption's fundamentals were eroding but investors would not let go of the multiples. Today the money has moved but nobody is looking — HUL is down from ₹2,250 to ₹1,960, Britannia −17% and Trent −23% over a year, Varun −14%. We are buying the operating leverage of a volume recovery in franchises whose multiples have compressed to 40–50x from 55–70x. The sales point is not "India has a large population"; it is that a cash-flow transfer the size of the IT salary bill has already happened.

Datapoints the team can quote
  • State women-centric cash transfers: 15+ states, ~120 mn beneficiaries, ~₹1.7 lakh cr/yr in FY26; Maharashtra recipients raised monthly spending 46% — Economic Survey 2026; Business Standard, Jul-2026
  • Buoyant estimate of total welfare transfer to households ≈ ₹6 lakh cr (1.7% of GDP), analysed across 16 state budgets — Buoyant Perspectives, Aug-2026
  • GST 2.0 (22-Sep-2025): ~60% of the FMCG basket repriced; soaps, toothpaste, biscuits to 5%; apparel/footwear up to ₹2,500 to 5% — NIQ; Business Standard
  • Rural volume growth out-paced urban for seven consecutive quarters to Sep-2025 (rural +7.7% vs urban +3.7%); FMCG value growth 7.8% in Oct–Dec 2025 — NIQ
  • Quick commerce is >75% of e-commerce FMCG sales; e-commerce is 14% of metro FMCG sales — the channel shift favours scaled brands — NIQ, Oct–Dec 2025
What we deliberately do not own

Nestlé India is a superb business at 60x+ with the least GST benefit and the slowest volume growth of the group; ITC is cigarettes-led (we specifically exclude cigarettes from the volume thesis) and now a hotels demerger story; Dabur and Godrej Consumer have weaker execution and portfolio issues (honey/chyawanprash seasonality; GCPL's African drag). Marico is a copra-cost story, not a volume story. Tata Consumer pays 60x for tea. In discretionary, V-Mart and ABFRL lack Trent's unit economics and balance sheet, and Shoppers Stop is the wrong price point for a transfer-led recovery.

Market position

Market share (where tracked)

Beauty & Personal Care - Market Share37 %as of Mar 18
Dishwashing Detergents Market Share55 %as of Mar 18
Shampoo - Market Share47 %as of Mar 18
Skin Care Segment Market Share54 %as of Mar 18
Tea Segment Market Share12 %as of Mar 18
Toothpaste - Market Share17 %as of Mar 18
Sector datapoints

From the one-pager

  • NIQ: FMCG value growth 7.8% in Oct-Dec 2025 (down from 12.9% in Jul-Sep 2025) with rural volume +2.9% and urban +2.3%; HPC volume +1.9%, food +2.8% - the GST 2.0 transition disrupted traditional trade for a quarter (NIQ Q4-2025 report, Mar-2026).
  • GST 2.0 effective 22-Sep-2025 moved toothpaste, toothpowder, soaps/personal wash and biscuits to 5% (from 18%/12%); nearly 60% of the FMCG portfolio saw rate revisions (NIQ) - benefit expected to show from the Mar-2026 quarter onwards.
  • State women-centric cash transfers: 15+ states, ~120 million beneficiaries, ~Rs 1.7 lakh crore/yr in FY26 (Economic Survey 2026 via Down To Earth; Business Standard 17-Jul-2026); Maharashtra Ladki Bahin study shows marginal propensity to consume ~0.9.
  • Rural outpaced urban for 7 consecutive quarters to Sep-2025 (rural vol +7.7% vs urban +3.7% in Jul-Sep 2025, NIQ); urban-rural gap narrowed to 2.9% vs 2.3% in Oct-Dec 2025.