Annual Sales Rise 2.9% at Unilever

Unilever posted gains for the fourth quarter and full year 2014. Full year sales rose 2.9% to $56.1 billion. Fourth quarter sales increased 2.1% to $14.4 billion.

Personal care sales jumped 3.5% to $20.5 billion for 2014; the sector rose 2.1% to $5.4 billion for the quarter. Home care sales climbed 5.8% to $10.7 billion for the year and 4% to $2.7 billion for the quarter.

CEO Paul Polman commented, “Despite a challenging year for our industry with significant economic headwinds and weak markets we have delivered another year of competitive underlying sales growth and margin expansion. This consistency, now established over the last six years, has been achieved during a period of high volatility as we have built a more resilient company. We have increasingly focused on our core business and have sharpened the strategy across each of our four categories.”

Growth was weak in emerging markets as economic pressures impacted consumer demand. Developed markets were flat, with a modest pick-up in North America partly offsetting market contraction in Europe for 2014.

Personal care grew ahead of weaker markets helped by successful product launches. Deodorants benefited from the success of the compressed aerosol range in Europe, continued growth from Dove innovations and most recently from the cross-brand launch of dry sprays in North America. Skin cleansing growth was driven by strong performances from Lifebuoy and the improved Dove Nutrium Moisture body wash. The launch of Baby Dove in Brazil has been well received by consumers. In December the company announced the acquisition of the Camay and Zest brands.

In hair, the Dove Advanced Hair series successfully established the premium Oxygen Moisture range in North America and this has now been extended to Europe. Hair growth was also underpinned by strong performances from Sunsilk Naturals in Asia, the TreSemmé 7 Day Keratin Smooth range and the successful introduction of Clear in Japan.

Laundry had another year of broad-based growth, driven by sustained investment in innovation, market development and white spaces expansion. Unilever successfully extended the Omo brand into Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, and a range of Omo stain removers and pre-treaters debuted in Brazil. Fabric conditioners grew through super-sensorial variants like Comfort Aromatherapy in South East Asia and Latin America.