19th Apr 2018 09:53
LONDON (Alliance News) - Anglo-Dutch consumer goods firm Unilever PLC on Thursday reported a drop in revenue for its first quarter, though it leavened this with the announcement of a share buyback of up to EUR6.00 billion.
For the three months to March, total revenue was EUR12.62 billion, down 5.2% year-on-year from the EUR13.32 billion it posted for the same period a year prior. Foreign exchange hit the figure by 9.8%.
Split geographically, Unilever's revenue in Europe fell 1.8% to EUR2.97 billion; in the Americas it slipped 10% to EUR3.93 billion; and in Asia, Africa, the Middle East & Turkey, and Russia, Ukraine & Belarus, the figure dropped 3.4%.
Underlying sales growth in Asia, AMET, RUB was 5.9%, and in the Americas it was 2.5%.
Unilever's underlying sales growth was 3.4%, and excluding spreads, the figure was up 3.7%. In Beauty & Personal Care, underlying sales growth was 3.9%, in Home Care it was 4.9%, and in Foods & Refreshment it was 2.3%.
The company increased its quarterly dividend by 8% to EUR0.3872 per share, and said a EUR6.00 billion share buyback will begin in May.
Europe remains challenging, Unilever said, due to weak consumer demand, price deflation, and a difficult retail environment hitting operations, especially in France.
The Americas posted a "strong" quarter of growth it said due to a soft comparator, though pricing did turn negative in Brazil.
Unilever said its Asia, AMET, RUB segment's growth was driven by volume gains while price growth declined. Turkey did well, but Indonesia, South Africa, and Russia were all hit by difficult conditions and competition.
Chief Executive Paul Polman said: "The first quarter demonstrates another good volume-driven performance across all three Divisions. The broad-based growth, including over 4% volume growth in emerging markets, shows that the 'Connected 4 Growth' programme is working and enhancing our long-term compounding growth model.
"For the full year, we continue to expect underlying sales growth in the 3% to 5% range and an improvement in underlying operating margin and cash flow that keep us on track for our 2020 goals."
The Financial Times reported Wednesday that Unilever faces a mounting rebellion among some of its largest investors after its recent decision to abandon its 89-year-old Anglo-Dutch structure and base itself in the Netherlands. The newspaper said Unilever has set up meetings with UK-based shareholders to convince them of the benefits of simplifying the business into one corporate entity based in Rotterdam, rather than London.
Unilever made no comment on the change in structure in Thursday's trading update.
Shares were down 2.0% on Thursday at 3,868.50 pence each.
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