04.26.12
Economic weakness and high costs remain challenging to Unilever—even as it posted a consensus-beating rise in sales, driven by price increases and volume growth in emerging markets, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Total sales in the quarter rose 12% to €12.1 billion ($15.99 billion).
Purchases of household and personal care products such as cleaning items, deodorants and shampoo in the booming economies of Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe are fueling growth, in contrast with softer performances in Western Europe and North America, as the globalized industry shifts eastward, said the report.
Purchases of household and personal care products such as cleaning items, deodorants and shampoo in the booming economies of Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe are fueling growth, in contrast with softer performances in Western Europe and North America, as the globalized industry shifts eastward, said the report.
Commenting on the company’s performance, CEO Paul Polman said: “Emerging markets, now 56% of the business, have again delivered strong growth and while the good performance in developed markets was against a weak prior year comparator, our performance is pleasing given struggling economies, continued fragile consumer confidence and competitor activity.”
“In Skin Cleansing we grew ahead of our markets with Dove reflecting the continuing success of Dove Nutrium Moisture shower gels and the roll-out of Dove Men+Care. Lifebuoy also progressed strongly, helped by the ’10 seconds germ-kill’ campaign and the introduction of Lifebuoy Clini-Care10 in India. Radox performed well in the UK, and the launch of Simple in the US along with a strong performance from Fair & Lovely also helped drive growth. Vaseline performed well, continuing to benefit from the Essential Moisture hand & body range which is now in 14 markets.
“Hair benefited from the roll-out of our brands into new markets and strong innovation performance. TRESemmé growth is being driven by the success of the launch in Brazil and the new split ends range. Dove Damage Therapy continues to perform well and the premium Style and Care styling range has just been introduced in the US. Clear is growing rapidly across Asia and Latin America and Axe hair is now being rolled out across Europe with good initial acceptance.
“Deodorants performed well, driven by our market development activities in emerging markets, with Dove growing double digit reflecting success in both the male and female markets. Rexona Maximum Protection is being rolled out to new markets and Axe Anarchy is performing strongly. Oral growth was driven by market development activities and trading up through premium innovations, such as the recent introduction of Signal Sensitive Expert in France.
“Robust laundry growth reflects the ongoing focus on improving the quality of our products, impactful advertising and sustained delivery from our key innovations, such as Omo with built-in pre-treaters. White space launches also contributed with successful launches of Comfort fabric conditioners in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the Philippines.
“Household cleaners benefited from the rapid growth of Sunlight hand dishwash products in South Asia and South East Asia, the success of the Domestos Toilet System range and the introduction of Domestos in Argentina, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and of Cif in China,” concluded Polman.