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Unilever PLC on Thursday said turnover and profit both increased in its latest half year, and declared a higher quarterly dividend. The London-based consumer goods giant said that for the first six months of 2024, net profit rose 3.5% to €4.02 billion from €3.88 billion the year before. Basic earnings per share rose to €1.48 from €1.41, while diluted EPS rose to €1.47 from €1.40. Unilever’s turnover meanwhile rose 2.3% to €31.12 billion from €30.43 billion. Americas turnover rose 4.6% to €11.46 billion, while Europe turnover increased 3.8% to €6.28 billion. Unilever, whose brands include Dove, Domestos and Marmite, said turnover for its Personal Care segment increased 0.6% to €6.95 billion, while Nutrition rose 1.3% to €6.69 billion. Beauty & Wellbeing turnover jumped 5.1% to €6.54 billion; Home Care increased 2.0% to €6.33 billion; and turnover for Ice Cream, which Unilever announced plans to spin off in mid-March, increased 2.8% to €4.61 billion. Unilever currently owns five of the 10 top-selling global ice cream brands including Wall’s, Magnum and Ben & Jerry’s. It said in March that the separation will assist in the implementation of its Growth Action Plan, a comprehensive productivity programme it expects to deliver around €800 million in cost savings over the next three years. Unilever said that due to its strong interim performance, it has increased the second-quarter interim dividend by 3.0% to 43.96 euro cents per share from 43 cents the prior year. This, Unilever said, marks its first dividend increase since the fourth quarter of 2020. ‘We are focused on driving high-quality sales growth and gross margin expansion, led by our Power Brands,’ said Chief Executive Officer Hein Schumacher. ‘Over the first half, we made progress on those ambitions...Strong gross margin progression fuelled increased investment behind our innovations, and resulted in a step-up of our profitability. ‘We continue to embed the Growth Action Plan, doing fewer things, better and with greater impact. The implementation of a comprehensive productivity programme and the separation of Ice Cream are key to delivering on that commitment and we are progressing at pace.’ Looking ahead, Unilever continues to expect between 3% and 5% underlying sales growth for the full year, with most growth drive by volume. It also anticipates an underlying operating margin of ‘at least 18%, with increasing investment behind our brands’. ‘There is much to do, but we remain focused on transforming Unilever into a consistently higher performing business,’ CEO Schumacher commented. Shares in Unilever were trading 5.4% higher at 4,634.00 pence in London on Thursday morning. Copyright 2024 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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