India's largest FMCG player Hindustan Unilever's bottomline shrunk by 21.6 per cent to Rs 428.53 crore in July-September this fiscal due to a loss of Rs 135.18 crore on exceptional items in the reporting quarter. The company had recorded exceptional gains of Rs 108.73 crore and a net profit of Rs 546.61 crore in the same period last fiscal. "Net profit declined by 21.6 per cent due to exceptional gains from property disposal in the same period last year and exceptional charge due to provision for settlement signed with erstwhile workers of a closed unit in the current period," the company said. The HUL board has approved an interim dividend of Rs 3 per share for the financial year. The dividend would be payable on or after November 23,2009. HUL's net sales witnessed a 4.97 per cent increase to Rs 4,228.11 crore in the quarter ended September 30,compared to Rs 4,027.87 crore in the same period last fiscal. Company's CFO R Sridhar said that almost 75 per cent of the company's business saw a double-digit growth in sales and a good growth in volume.
