Unilever reports 8.1% half year sales growth
Unilever has announced an 8.1 percent growth rate in the first half of 2022. The multinational revealed this while stating its results for the first half of 2022.
In a statement from Alan Jope, The Global CEO, the growth was attributed to an underlying 9.8 percent price and 1.6 percent volume.
Statement from Alan Jope
“Unilever has delivered a first half performance which builds on our momentum of 2021, despite the challenges of high inflation and slower global growth. Underlying sales growth of 8.1% was driven by strong pricing to mitigate input cost inflation, which, as expected, had some impact on volume. We are now raising our sales guidance for the year. The underlying operating margin was on track at 17% for the first half.
“We have made further progress against our strategic priorities. We are maintaining strong investment in our brands, supporting 9.4% underlying sales growth in our billion+ Euro brands. eCommerce sales now represent 14% of turnover, up from 6% in 2019. Of our three priority markets, the USA and India again grew strongly, while sales in China were affected by the lockdowns in the second quarter. We continue to reshape our portfolio, completing the sale of the global tea business ekaterra, and the acquisition of Nutrafol, a leading provider of hair wellness products. Prestige Beauty and Health & Wellbeing, now 4% of Group turnover, again grew double-digit, Alan Jope revealed in the Statement.
Giving a breakdown of the report, the Statement indicated that growth was broad-based across all Divisions. Price has sequentially stepped up over the past two quarters, reaching 11.2% in the second quarter, which had, as expected, some negative impact on volume.
“This was more pronounced in Home Care, which was particularly exposed to rising input costs and took the highest pricing action, leading to underlying sales growth of 10.7%. Beauty & Personal Care grew 7.5%, driven by price and continued strong growth in Prestige Beauty and Health & Wellbeing, which is Unilever’s vitamins, minerals, and supplements business. Foods & Refreshment grew 7.3% with slightly negative volume at (0.9)%, although volumes were flat excluding ekaterra. Ice cream out-of-home and Unilever Food Solutions showed strong double-digit growth in the first half, compensating for lower growth of in-home ice cream.
“Emerging markets grew by 10.0% with a 12.1% contribution from price and volume at (1.8)%, including an estimated adverse impact of around 70bps from the lockdowns in China. Pricing in Latin America was strong at 19.1% with volumes contracting by (4.8)%. South Asia grew strongly through both price and volume. Turkey delivered double-digit volume growth by managing dynamically through a high inflation environment. Developed markets increased by 5.5%, with 6.7% from price and (1.2)% from volume. North America grew 8.7%, helped by strong performances of dressings and our businesses in high growth areas such as Health & Wellbeing.
“Turnover increased 14.9% to €29.6 billion, which included a currency impact of 5.6% and 0.6% from acquisitions net of disposals. Underlying operating profit was €5.0 billion, up 4.1% versus the prior year. The underlying operating margin declined by 180bps to 17.0%. Gross margin decreased by 210bps which reflected the very high inflation in input costs that was only partially mitigated by the strong pricing action and savings delivery.”
Jope is hopeful that: “This major change to Unilever’s operating model is an important further step that will underpin the delivery of consistent growth, which remains our first priority. The challenges of inflation persist and the global macroeconomic outlook is uncertain, but we remain intensely focused on operational excellence and delivery in 2022 and beyond.”
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