TOP NEWS: Unilever sees solid sales growth but warns of cost pressure

(Alliance News) - Unilever PLC on Thursday reported steady interim sales growth, though noted ...

Alliance News 22 July, 2021 | 8:26AM
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(Alliance News) - Unilever PLC on Thursday reported steady interim sales growth, though noted input cost inflation will continue into the second half.

The London-based consumer goods firm posted revenue for the first half of 2021 up 0.3% to EUR25.79 billion from EUR25.71 billion, while pretax profit slipped 3.6% to EUR4.37 billion from EUR4.53 billion.

Revenue benefited from a 1.3% boost from net acquisitions but was knocked by 6.1% by currency movements.

Underlying sales growth for the half-year was 5.4%, driven by volumes, though the company noted price growth stepped up in the second quarter. Unilever's underlying operating margin slipped 100 basis points to 18.8% due to investment into its brands and input cost inflation. Its GAAP operating margin also narrowed by 100 points to 17.2%.

Underlying operating margin declined by 220 basis points in Beauty & Personal Care and by 130 points in Home Care, but improved by 60 points in Foods & Refreshment.

Shares in Unilever were down 4.3% to 4,116.91 pence each in London on Thursday morning.

"Competitive growth is our priority, and we are confident that we will deliver underlying sales growth in 2021 well within our multi-year framework of 3% to 5%, despite more challenging comparators in the second half," said Chief Executive Alan Jope.

"We have seen further cost inflation emerge through the second quarter," Jope said. "Cost volatility and the timing of landing price actions create a higher than normal range of likely year end margin outcomes. We are managing this dynamically and expect to maintain underlying operating margin for 2021 around flat."

The firm added that the operational separation of the tea business is "substantially complete" and due to conclude in October. It is focused on the next phase for the business, which would include an initial public offering, sale or partnership.

For the half-year period Unilever generated particularly strong underlying sales growth from its Foods & Refreshment division, which grew 8.1%, with 5.8% from volume and 2.1% from price. Ice cream sales improved across both in home and out of home products, with double digit performances in Turkey, China and India.

Home Care underlying sales also performed resiliently, Unilever said, up 4.5% thanks to fabric cleaning product revenue increasing by mid-single digits driven by recovery in India and price-led growth in Brazil.

Unilever declared a quarterly dividend of EUR0.4268 per share, in line with what was declared for the first quarter.

The group noted its share buyback programme of up to EUR3 billion is underway and that the first tranche for an aggregate market value of EUR1.5 billion would end on or before August 27.

By Will Paige; willpaige@alliancenews.com

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Security Name Price Change (%) Morningstar
Rating
Unilever PLC 3,811.00 GBX 1.09

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