Unilever hails "good start" to year as quarterly sales rises

(Alliance News) - Unilever PLC on Thursday noted broad-based growth largely across all its business groups and geographies in the first quarter of 2023.

It reported revenue totalling EUR14.75 billion, representing a 7.0% increase against the previous year's outcome of EUR13.78 billion.

The London-based consumer product company noted that underlying sales growth was 11% in the quarter.

Unilever owns brands such as Marmite, Ben & Jerry's and Vaseline skincare products.

In Beauty & Wellbeing, revenue totalled EUR3.09 billion for the quarter, up 13% Personal Care revenue also surged 13% to EUR3.40 billion, though Nutrition revenue fell 4.4% to EUR3.35 billion. Home Care revenue amounted to EUR3.17 billion, up 8.6%, while Ice Cream revenue amounted to EUR1.74 billion, up 8.0%.

Unilever said yearly price growth remained elevated at 10.7%. Volumes fell 0.2%, though Unilever noted this was an "improved quarter-on-quarter" outcome.

Looking forward, Unilever said it expects to deliver another year of strong underlying growth in 2023, with an improved volume performance compared to 2022.

It now expects underlying sales growth for the full-year to be at least at the upper end of its range of 3% to 4%.

Additionally, the company said it expects around EUR600 million of cost savings over the first two years since adopting a "simpler, more category-focused operating model" last July. The majority of the savings will be delivered in 2023.

Chief Executive Officer Alan Jope said: "Unilever has had a good start to the year, delivering another quarter of strong topline growth. Underlying sales growth accelerated to 10.5%, driven by price growth in response to continued high input cost inflation and an improved volume performance."

The firm declared a quarterly dividend of GBP0.3783 per share, up from GBP0.3590 per share a year prior.

Shares were up 1.7% at 4,444.00 pence each on Thursday morning in London.

By Xindi Wei, Alliance News reporter

Comments and questions to [e-mail]

Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.