Unilever grows sales and profit in the first half period

Underlying sales growth at Unilever was 4.1 percent in the first half period, while turnover increased 2.3 percent to 31.1 billion euros.

The company said that Underlying operating profit was 6.1 billion euros, up 17.1 percent, underlying operating margin was up 250 bps to 19.6 percent, with gross margin up 420 bps. Underlying EPS increased 16.3 percent and diluted EPS was up 5.4 percent.

Unilever increased its quarterly dividend by 3 percent and commenced a 1.5 billion euros share buyback program.

Commenting on the trading performance, Hein Schumacher, Unilever CEO said in a statement: “We are focused on driving high-quality sales growth and gross margin expansion, led by our power brands. Over the first half, we made progress on those ambitions. There is much to do, but we remain focused on transforming Unilever into a consistently higher performing business.”

Review of Unilever’s financial results

The company continues to expect underlying sales growth for 2024 to be within its multi-year range of 3 percent to 5 percent, with the majority of the growth being driven by volume. Underlying operating margin for the full year is expected to be at least 18 percent.

Unilever’s beauty & wellbeing segment grew underlying sales by 7.1 percent, with volume growth of 5.5 percent driven by continued double-digit growth from health & wellbeing and Prestige Beauty combined. In the second quarter, strong growth in health & wellbeing more than offset softer growth in Prestige that reflected a slowdown in the US beauty market.

Personal care grew 5.6 percent with 2.9 percent from volume, led by continued strong sales growth of deodorants. Home care underlying sales increased 3.3 percent, with 4.6 percent volume growth more than offsetting the negative price growth. Nutrition grew by 3.2 percent, driven by price with flat volume for the first half.

Emerging markets representing 59 percent of group turnover grew 5.1 percent with 3.8 percent from volume and 1.3 percent from price. India grew 1.2 percent with stronger volumes partially offset by price. Latin America grew 8.8 percent, with continued strong volume growth across the region. Africa and Turkey delivered broad-based, double-digit growth, driven by strong volume and price.

Growth in SouthEast Asia was adversely impacted by a sales decline of 5.7 percent in Indonesia, where some consumers avoided the brands of multinational companies in response to the geopolitical situation in the Middle East. China declined mid single-digit, due to market weakness across all categories apart from food service.

Developed markets, representing 41 percent of group turnover grew 2.8 percent. The return to positive volume growth reflected a continued resilient performance in North America and a marked volume improvement in Europe, up 2.2 percent in the second quarter.