19th Jan 2016 08:47
LONDON (Alliance News) - Unilever PLC on Tuesday reported a fall in profit in 2015 but a rise in revenue as it achieved volume growth, although it warned of volatile times ahead in a tough market.
The food, home and personal care product supplier, the first UK blue-chip to publish 2015 results, said pretax profit fell 6% to EUR7.22 billion from EUR7.64 billion in 2014, although revenue grew 10% to EUR53.27 billion from EUR48.43 billion.
Underlying sales grew 4.1% in 2015, ahead of its 2% to 4% guided growth range.
Unilever said that consumer demand remained fragile, while currency devaluation also harmed results in 2015, but that it achieved volume growth.
"We are preparing ourselves for tougher market conditions and high volatility in 2016, as world events in recent weeks have highlighted. Therefore it is vital that we drive agility and cost discipline across our business. We are further strengthening our innovation funnel while shortening innovation cycle times, stepping up our digital capabilities and rolling out a global zero based budgeting programme. Our priorities continue to be volume-driven growth ahead of our markets, steady improvement in core operating margin and strong cash flow," Chief Executive Paul Polman said in a statement.
Growth in personal care improved in 2015 on the previous year, although it was still below historical run rates, Unilever said, adding that growth was driven by an extension into more premium segments.
In foods, savoury products performed well but sales of spreads continued to decline, while home care delivered growth driven by innovations in higher-margin segments.
Growth in the refreshment division was boosted by premium brands of ice cream such as Magnum and Ben & Jerry's, Unilever said.
By region, growth was mixed in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, as Turkey the Philippines and India delivered solid growth, but volumes in Russia declined.
Growth in the Americas was largely driven by Latin America, as North America grew only slightly, while Europe returned to growth during the year as good volumes offset price deflation.
Home care and ice cream grew ahead of the markets, but a weaker performance from margarine weighed on the foods category in the UK and Germany, Unilever said.
Unilever will pay a quarterly dividend of EUR0.302 for its fourth quarter, the same as for the third quarter.
Shares in Unilever were trading up 1.3% at 2,881.00 pence on Tuesday morning.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
Copyright 2016 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Unilever