Chennai, Oct 21 (IANS): Fast-moving consumer goods major Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) closed the Q2 of FY23 with a net profit of Rs 2,616 crore.

The company's Board on Friday, approving the accounts, also declared an interim dividend of Rs 17 per equity share of face value of Re 1 each.

For the period under review, HUL had posted a revenue of Rs 14,514 crore (Rs.12.516 crore for Q2FY22) and a net profit of Rs 2,616 crore (Rs.2,187 crore).

Looking ahead, the company said the growth will be price-led with continued inflationary pressure.

It expects the price versus cost gap to narrow marginally.

According to brokerage Prabhudas Lilladher, the quarter saw high-priced inventory come into the system which led to sharp gross margin slippage of 580bps YoY to 45.8 per cent.

EBITDA margins, at 22.9 per cent, were managed due to cut in ad spends (250bps) and lower other expenses (180bps).

"We expect inflationary pressure to have peaked out and expect sequential margin recovery," Prabhudas Lilladher said.