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Unilever PLC on Thursday hailed a ‘continued outperformance’, and the consumer goods firm said the demerger of its ice cream offering, including Ben & Jerry’s, is on track. The Dove soap and Domestos cleaning products owner said revenue in the first half of 2025 declined 3.2% to €30.13 billion from €31.12 billion a year prior. Pretax profit weakened 8.5% to €5.09 billion from €5.57 billion. Unilever said its underlying sales growth for the period was 3.4%, with volumes up 1.5% and prices boosted by 1.9%. For the second quarter alone, underlying sales spiked 3.8%, amid a 1.8% climb in volumes and 2.0% pricing growth. Second-quarter underlying sales growth beat consensus of 3.6%, while the half-year topped a 3.3% forecast. ‘Our continued outperformance in developed markets and the positive impact of our decisive interventions in emerging markets, accelerated our growth in the second quarter to 3.8%, with positive volume growth across all business groups,’ Chief Executive Officer Fernando Fernandez said. ‘Our first half performance positions us well for the full year. In the second half, we expect further acceleration in emerging markets, particularly in Asia, and sustained momentum in developed markets.’ Underlying sales growth in the Beauty & Wellbeing arm, which houses brands such as Vaseline and Dove, was 3.7% on-year in the first half. Personal Care growth was 4.8%. The unit, which contains brands including the Rexona deodorants and antiperspirants range, helped drive a strong volume performance for the group in North America, Unilever said. Unilever’s Home Care underlying sales grew 1.3% in the first half, while sales growth in Foods was 2.2% and in Ice Cream it was 5.9%. The CEO added: ‘We are on track to demerge Ice Cream by mid-November, with the operational separation now complete and competitive performance improving.’ The new business will be called Magnum Ice Cream Co and operated as a standalone basis from July 1. In addition to Magnum, the Ice Cream division includes the Wall’s and Ben & Jerry’s. The business will hold a capital markets day in London on September 9, setting out its ‘business strategy and investment case’. Unilever will keep roughly a 20% stake in the business for a period of up to five years. ‘Over time, the retained stake will be sold down in an orderly and considered manner to pay separation costs and maintain capital flexibility through a reduction in net debt. The retained stake demonstrates our support and belief in [Magnum Ice Cream Co],’ it said. ‘Unilever intends to consolidate its share capital following completion of the demerger. This share consolidation, which will reduce the total number of shares in issue, is designed to maintain comparability between Unilever’s share price, earnings per share and dividends per share before and after the demerger.’ Unilever lifted its second quarter dividend by 3.0% on-year to €0.4528. It completed a €1.5 billion share buyback programme in May. Fernandez said: ‘Looking ahead, our priorities are clear: more Beauty & Wellbeing and Personal Care; disproportionate investment in the US and India; and, a sharper focus on premium segments and digital commerce. We are building a marketing and sales machine that drives desire at scale in our power brands and ensures execution excellence across all channels to deliver consistent volume growth and gross margin expansion.’ For the whole of 2025, Unilever expects underlying sales growth to be within its range of 3% to 5%, with second half progress ahead of the first, ‘despite subdued market conditions’. ‘This is supported by our continued strength in developed markets and improving performance in emerging markets, notably in India, Indonesia and China. We anticipate an improvement in underlying operating margin for the full year, with second half margins of at least 18.5%, a significant improvement versus the second half of 2024. The macroeconomic and currency environment is uncertain and we will be agile in adjusting our plans as necessary,’ Unilever said. Unilever shares were up 0.2% to 4,470.00 pence each in London on Thursday morning. The wider FTSE 100 index was up 0.4%. Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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