Unilever posts 5.7% growth in Q1
Leading Consumer goods Company, Unilever has recorded almost 6 percent sales growth in the first quarter of 2021, according to the company’s first quarter report. The reports revealed that the growth was informed by an impressive boom in sales across its entire portfolio including Home care, beauty care, Foods, and Refreshment.
Commenting on the report, Unilever CEO, Alan Jope stated: “Unilever has made a good start to the year. Our focus on operational excellence, innovation and purposeful brands is continuing to strengthen competitiveness and has delivered underlying sales growth of 5.7% for the quarter.”
Unilever recorded underlying sales growth of 5.7% with 4.7% from volume and 1.0% from price.
Emerging markets grew 9.4% driven by strong double-digit growth in China and India, following strict lock-downs in the prior year. Latin America grew high-single digit while South East Asia declined, driven by Indonesia. Developed markets grew 0.8%, with mid-single digit growth in North America offset by a decline in Europe, where volumes were impacted by lock-downs. However, higher demand for food and hygiene products is being witnessed. E-commerce continued to perform strongly, with underlying sales growth of 66%, and represented 11% of turnover.
Turnover decreased 0.9% and a negative impact of 8.0% from currency related items. Acquisitions net of disposals, including acquired functional nutrition brands Horlicks, Liquid I.V. and SmartyPants Vitamins, had a positive impact of 1.9%. Beauty & Personal Care underlying sales grew 2.3%, with 1.5% from volume and 0.8% from pricing. Home Care underlying sales grew 5.9%, with 6.5% from volume and negative price of 0.6%. Foods & Refreshment underlying sales grew 9.8%, with 7.3% from volume and 2.3% from pricing.
Alan Jope added: “We are confident that we will deliver underlying sales growth in 2021 within our multi-year framework of 3-5%, with the first half around the top of this range. We expect to increase underlying operating margin slightly for the full year, though with a decline in the first half driven by Covid-19 impacts, higher cost inflation and increased marketing spend over the prior year. Following another year of strong cash flow delivery, Unilever’s Board has approved a share buyback programme of up to €3 billion.”
“We are committed to delivering superior long-term financial performance through our sustainable business model, which we believe has never been more relevant than it is today.”
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