23rd Jul 2020 08:17
(Alliance News) - Consumer goods firm Unilever said Thursday the effects of Covid-19 has varied widely across all its channels, regions and categories as consumers had more time to spend in the home and the importance of hygiene became more critical.
The maker of Dove soap and Domestos household cleaner said it increased its hand sanitiser capacity by 600 times across several brands and rolled out its Lifebuoy hygiene brand to more than 50 markets.
For the half-year ended June 30, revenue was EUR25.71 billion, down 1.6% from EUR26.13 billion the year before, but pretax profit rose 4.1% to EUR4.53 billion from EUR4.35 billion.
In addition, underlying sales declined 0.1% with volumes declining 0.3% but prices rising 0.2%. Developed markets grew 2.4%, whilst emerging markets declined 1.9%.
Unilever maintained its quarterly shareholder dividend at EUR0.4104 per share.
"As people spent more time in their homes, we saw growth in home consumption of foods, ice cream and tea. It also meant that consumers had fewer personal care occasions from going to work or socialising, and we saw a decline in our personal care business, except for hygiene products. The effectiveness of good hygiene practices against the spread of Covid-19 increased demand for our hand and home hygiene products, which each grew double digits," Unilever said.
The stock was up 6.6% early Thursday in London.
Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 0.2% at 6,220.07
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Hang Seng: up 0.7% at 25,221.91
Nikkei 225: Tokyo market closed for holiday
DJIA: closed up 165.44 points, or 0.6%, at 27,005.84
S&P 500: closed up 0.6% at 3,276.02
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GBP: firm at USD1.2744 (USD1.2731)
EUR: unchanged at USD1.1585
Gold: up at USD1,874.70 per ounce (USD1,861.40)
Oil (Brent): up at USD44.46 a barrel (USD43.72)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Thursday's Key Economic Events still to come
Japan Marine Day holiday. Financial markets closed.
1100 BST UK CBI industrial trends survey
1600 CEST EU FCCI flash consumer confidence indicator
0830 EDT US initial jobless claims
1000 EDT US leading indicators
1030 EDT US EIA weekly natural gas storage report
1100 EDT US Fed Kansas City Survey of Tenth District Manufacturing
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Confusion over whether customers will have to wear face coverings in takeaways and sandwich shops in England must be cleared up, opposition members of Parliament have said. UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced on July 14 that wearing a face covering in shops and supermarkets will be compulsory from Friday, July 24, with anyone failing to comply facing a fine of up to GBP100. But the new regulations will only be published on Thursday, less than 24 hours before they come into effect, and ministers were accused of not providing enough clarity. While face coverings will be mandatory in shops and supermarkets from Friday, the opposition accused ministers of "making things up as they go along" over takeaways and sandwich shops.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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CREDIT SUISSE RAISES STANDARD CHARTERED TO 'NEUTRAL' ('UNDERPERFORM') - TARGET 480 (395) PENCE
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CREDIT SUISSE RAISES LLOYDS BANKING TO 'OUTPERFORM' (NEUTRAL) - PRICE TARGET 40 PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Business publisher and events firm RELX posted lower interim revenue and profit as its exhibitions business was "significantly impacted" by Covid-19. For the half-year ended June 30, revenue fell 10% to GBP3.50 billion from GBP3.89 billion the year before and adjusted pretax profit dropped 25% to GBP858 million from GBP1.14 billion. RELX kept its interim dividend unchanged at 13.6 pence. RELX highlighted that its Exhibitions unit, which accounted for 16% of revenue and 13% of adjusted operating profit in 2019, has been hurt significantly by Covid-19, as the pandemic forced countries to block public events and gatherings. In the Exhibitions arm, first-half revenue of GBP201 million was less than a third of GBP684 million last year, and the business swung to an adjusted operating loss of GBP117 million from a profit of GBP231 million. The outlook for the remainder of 2020 for Exhibitions remains highly uncertain, RELX added.
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Johnson Matthey said that despite a sharp decline in first-quarter sales it is seeing a recovery in customer demand and automotive production across its Clean Air unit, which provides emissions control. The company said group sales were down materially at constant currency due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. The decline was driven by Clean Air as a result of lower consumer demand and temporary manufacturing customer shutdowns, although sales in this sector steadily improved through the quarter. Johnson Matthey said Clean Air sales were down 50% in the first quarter but improved throughout the period - down 75% in April, 60% in May and 20% in June. Looking forward it anticipates July sales to be down 20%, with improvement through the remainder of the second quarter. Johnson Matthey said it continues to make progress in commercialising its eLNO material for fuel cells and anticipates soon having five customers in full cell testing. The company added that it has started to deliver the additional efficiency benefits it recently outlined and expects initial benefits of at least GBP30 million this year.
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Pilots at International Consolidated Airlines Group-owned British Airways are being urged to accept a package including pay cuts and job losses in a bid to avoid more redundancies. The British Airline Pilots Association said the package, negotiated after nearly three months of negotiations, would protect jobs. The proposed deal includes voluntary part-time working, voluntary severance, voluntary external secondments, and a holding pool of the equivalent of 300 pilots employed on reduced pay ready to return to flying as demand picks up. The measures will be funded by pilot pay cuts starting at 20% and reducing to 8% over the next two years then further reducing toward zero over the longer term. BALPA said that despite these measures, BA pilots are "devastated" at the prospect of around 270 compulsory redundancies although the union said it expected this number will fall further as voluntary mitigation measures continue to be taken up. BALPA said it was recommending its members accept the proposals as the best that can be achieved in these "incredibly difficult circumstances".
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COMPANIES - GLOBAL
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Roche Holding said its performance was hurt in the first half of 2020 by the coronavirus pandemic and the continued appreciation of the Swiss franc against most other currencies. The Swiss pharmaceutical and diagnostics company reported a sales fall of 4% in the six months to the end of June to CHF29.28 billion, about USD31.53 billion, compared to CHF30.47 billion a year earlier. On a constant currency basis, revenue increased by 1%. IFRS net income decreased by 5% in the first half to CHF8.47 billion from CHF8.90 billion. On a constant currency basis, it rose by 3%. Roche said Covid-19 pandemic had a negative impact on sales during the second quarter, but since June sales are recovering. Going forward, Roche said, based on the current assessment of the Covid-19 impact, sales are expected to grow in the low- to mid- single-digit range, at constant exchange rates, in 2020.
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Daimler said it intends to continue to cut costs following a fall in revenue in the second quarter of 2020. The German automaker reported 541,800 units sold in the second quarter of 2020, down from 821,700 units disposed of a year earlier, resulting in revenue of EUR30.18 billion, dropping from EUR42.65 billion a year ago. Daimler said its loss widened during the period to EUR1.91 billion from EUR1.24 billion the year before, with loss before interest and taxes of EUR1.68 billion versus EUR1.56 billion year-on-year. "We are now seeing the first signs of a sales recovery – especially at Mercedes-Benz passenger cars, where we are experiencing strong demand for our top end models and our electrified vehicles," said Chair Ola Kallenius.
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Thursday's Shareholder Meetings
Petards Group PLC - AGM
Circassia Group PLC - AGM
Telecom Plus PLC - AGM
Helical PLC - AGM
Vp PLC - AGM
ValiRx PLC - AGM
Live Co Group PLC - AGM
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By Tom Waite; [email protected]
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