Unilever First Half Group Turnover Rises 2.3%

Unilever Group turnover for the first half was €31.1 billion, up 2.3% versus the previous year. Underlying sales growth of 4.1% was the main contributor, according to the maker of home cleaning and personal care staples that are used by consumers worldwide.

Net impact of acquisitions and disposals was -0.7%. Acquisitions added 0.5%, with K18 haircare as well as Yasso (a food brand  performing in line with acquisition business cases. This was more than offset by a disposal impact of -1.2%, driven by Suave, Dollar Shave Club and one month of Elida Beauty, which Unilever sold off on June 1, 2024, according to the company.

Beauty & Wellbeing

Beauty and Wellbeing (B&W) delivered a strong first half with underlying sales growth of 7.1%, underpinned by 5.5% volume growth, according to Unilever.  It was  the third consecutive quarter in which B&W volume has been above 5%, said officials, who attributed the strong performance to power brands that delivered double digit growth.

Sunsilk and Dove fueled hair care growth while Vaseline and Ponds were strong contributors in skin care,” according to Fernando Fernandez, CFO.

What’s more Unilever said for the 14th consecutive quarter, its combined Health & Wellbeing and Prestige Beauty businesses delivered double-digit growth.

“Health & Wellbeing was particularly strong in the quarter, while Prestige Beauty felt the impact of slowdown in the beauty market in the US,” said Fernandez. “Personal Care grew 5.6% with a good balance between volume and price growth. Dove, Unilever’s largest brand, achieved double-digit growth across its female and male franchises, on the back of strong innovations across both deodorants and skin cleansing, like the premium range of serum infused body washes in US.”

Unilever said deodorants delivered double digit growth, with strong contributions from the multi-year innovation platforms of Rexona and Axe as well as Dove.

“Although tempered by market challenges in Indonesia, deflation in India and subdued performance of our antibacterial brand Lifebuoy, Skin Cleansing still delivered positive volume and price growth,” said Fernandez.

Oral Care continued to grow mid-single digit with positive volume and price, led by Close Up and Pepsodent.

Home Care

Home Care turnover grew 3.3% with volume up 4.6%.

Officials said the impact of commodities deflation in the basket of home care materials led to negative price of 1.3% in several emerging markets, and particularly in laundry powders. Fabric Cleaning grew low-single digit and Home & Hygiene grew strongly, high single digit, with very positive strong contribution from Europe in both, said the company.

Fernandez said Unilever’s premium innovations in Europe, such as Persil Wonder Wash, Comfort Elixir and Domestos Power Foam, “are all off to a promising start and we are reinforcing our investment plans to accelerate momentum even more.”

Power Brands & Growth Action Plan

CEO Hein Schumacher discussed company’s Growth Action Plan, or GAP, which it sees as a mean to improve performance and restore competitiveness.

“In the nine months since it was launched, we have been implementing the plan at pace across all ten action areas,” said Schumacher.

The effort is focused on three areas:

• To deliver faster, higher quality growth.

• To create a more streamlined and productive business.

• To embed within Unilever a sharper performance culture.

Officials content faster growth will come  from an increased focus on its power brands.

“In practice this means stepping up investment… But increased focus also means ensuring these brands are ‘unmissably superior’ and that we scale innovations more effectively,” Schumacher said.

He pointed to Persil Wonder Wash, as an example of success, calling the laundry product  “technology-based,” “differentiated” and “scalable.”

According to Schumacher, Persil Wonder Wash, available in the UK, France and China, is on track to be rolled-out across to other markets over the next 18 months.