Excluding the impact of currency changes, Unilever’s underlying sales grew 4.7 per cent, in line with analyst expectations according to a company-supplied consensus and near the top end of its 3-5 per cent target for the full year.
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Unilever (LON:ULVR) has this morning updated investors on its first quarter performance, posting sales growth of 4.7 percent.
“We are maintaining momentum despite a tougher external environment, with all four categories gaining market share”, said Chief Executive Paul Polman, referring to the group’s personal-care, foods, home-care and refreshment categories.
In a statement announcing the results, Unilever pointed out “good performance in savoury was led by cooking products in emerging markets and innovations around naturalness”.
Unilever noted that consumer demand remained fragile and that volume growth slowed further in its markets, with market growth weak in emerging markets, negligible in North America and negative in Europe.
Currency headwinds took the shine of the sales growth by contributing to a 2% fall in turnover.
Beset by deflation, underlying sales in Europe were down 0.6%.
Unilever reported a 6% increase in its quarterly dividend to EUR0.32 a share. Pricing increased 2 percent in the quarter, below the 2.4 percent analyst estimate.
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Polman added that due to the ongoing volatility in the markets, the Anglo-Dutch company was increasingly focusing on improving resilience in its business through a number of key programmes – net revenue management, zero-based budgeting and the next stage in the firm’s “continued organisational transformation”.
