16th Apr 2015 06:54
LONDON (Alliance News) - Unilever PLC Thursday reported an increase in sales for the first quarter of 2015, helped by movements in currency and underlying sales growth, and said it is making a good start to the year.
The maker of consumer products including Lipton tea and Vaseline beauty products said revenue increased for its first quarter by 12% to EUR12.8 billion, which it said was helped by "favourable currency movements" and an improvement in underlying sales.
Underlying sales grew 2.8%, with emerging markets sales up 5.4%. Underlying sales are at constant currencies and exclude acquisitions and disposals. Of the 2.8% underlying sales growth, 1.9 percentage points came from price increases and 0.9 point from higher sales volume.
Personal care saw the biggest turnover, with sales of EUR4.8 billion, but the company said that while growth in the sector improved, it remains below historic levels amid competitive markets. However, it expects to see an improvement in the second half of the year.
Food made sales of EUR3.2 billion, driven by strong sales in the run-up to Easter.
The company said it has "further strengthened the innovation pipeline" and is increasing investment into its brands, as well as extending into premium segments and new markets.
"Despite high levels of currency and commodity volatility, we are now starting to see more tailwinds than headwinds in our markets, and expect our initiatives to deliver a further improvement in volume growth in the remainder of the year. We remain focused on competitive, profitable, consistent and responsible growth. Our priorities continue to be volume growth ahead of our markets, steady improvement in core operating margin and strong cash flow," Chief Executive Paul Polman said in a statement.
Unilever will pay a quarterly dividend of EUR0.302, up 6% on the year before.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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