Hindustan Lever recovered from the lower levels soon after its `on target' Q4 results hit the market in afternoon trades on Wednesday.

The scrip of the FMCG giant was still lower by 1.4% at Rs 174 at the end of one half of trading . But that provided some consolation considering that it was as low as Rs 170 just ahead of the results. Around 790,000 HLL shares changed hands on BSE so far.

On Tuesday, HLL lost 1% to Rs 176.55.

For Q4 ended 31 December 2002, HLL has posted a 6.9% growth in net profit to Rs 466.51 crore (Rs 4.66 billion) on a 2.3% fall in net sales to Rs 2,634.50 crore (Rs 26.34 billion). HLL's Q4 net profit is in line with expectations. A capitalmarket.com poll had forecast the company's net profit to rise between 1.5% and 12% to between Rs 443 crore (Rs 4.43 billion) and Rs 488.4 crore (Rs 4.88 billion) for DQ 2002 compared to Rs 436.38 crore (Rs 4.36 billion) in DQ 2001. The poll had forecast a fall of 3.5% to 9.3% in the company's sales in the range of Rs 2,505 crore (Rs 25.05 billion) and Rs 2,667.5 crore (Rs 26.67 billion) for DQ 2002 as against Rs 2,762.90 crore (Rs 27.62 billion) in DQ 2001.

For FY 2002, HLL posted a 6.9% rise in net profit to Rs 1,755.69 crore (Rs 17.55 billion) on a 6.6% fall in net sales to Rs 9,954.85 crore (Rs 99.54 billion). The board of directors recommended a dividend of Rs 3 per share for the year ended 31 December 2002.

Analysts expect further improvement in HLL's profit in Q1 ended 31 March 2003 as inventory correction takes place at the FMCG major.

Meanwhile, market men say the future trend on the HLL counter would depend on what the company's management says about the future outlook. All eyes are on the analysts' meeting of HLL that has just begun.

BSE Code: 500696