Divestitures Boost Unilever's Results

2009-02-06 | 07:43

Profit for the year jumps 28%.

Unilever has reaped the reward from its divestures during the past year, but going forward results may be somewhat more sobering.

The company reported its fourth quarter profits rose 51% to $1.57 billion (at average exchange rates). For the year , profit rose 28% to $7.78 billion.

Fourth quarter sales rose 3% to nearly $13.4 billion, and 1% to $59.6 billion for the full year. Sales of personal care products, which includes Dove, Sunsilk and Axe/Lynx, rose 6.6% to more than $16.7 billion, in 2008.

But Paul Polman, Unilever's CEO, warned: "Given the economic uncertainty I believe it would be inappropriate at this stage to provide an outlook specifically for 2009 or to reaffirm 2010 targets."