Member Article

Unilever report ?50bn revenues

Food giant Unilever announced underlying sales growth of 6.9%, and a 10.5% rise in turnover to €51.3bn. (£43.1bn).

In it’s full year results released on Wednesday, the Anglo-Dutch company said sales growth in emerging markets went up by 11.4% and accounted for 55% of the firm’s total turnover.

Operating margins were also strong for the business, up 30 bps to 13.8%, while core earnings increased 11% per share to €1.57 (£1.32.)

Unilever, which started manufacturing margarine and soaps in the 1930s, currently has operations in personal hygiene, food, ice creams and drinks and cleaning products.

The company looks after a plethora of household-name brands, including Dove, Knorr, Ben & Jerry’s and Cif and employs around 179,000 people in 100 countries worldwide.

Paul Polman, chief executive, said: “We continue to make good progress in transforming Unilever into a sustainable growth company.

“We have reported another quarter of good quality, profitable growth ahead of our markets. All categories and all geographies grew with a good overall balance between volume and price.”

Unilever said it hopes to reach an annual turnover of €80m, whilst reducing the company’s impact on the environment.

Mr Polman added: “We continued to invest behind our brands, again increasing advertising and promotions spend.

“I am pleased to report that Magnum and Sunsilk have joined the group of €1 billion brands in our portfolio, bringing the total to fourteen.

“This gives us confidence that Unilever is becoming fit to win. Importantly, we achieved these results whilst continuing to lay the foundations for the long term.

“However there is no room for complacency: markets will remain challenging, with intense competition and volatile commodity costs.

“We remain focused on achieving another year of profitable volume growth ahead of our markets, steady and sustainable core operating margin improvement and strong cash flow.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .