Unilever has announced its results for the fourth quarter and full year 2012 which the company said show good quality, profitable growth ahead of its markets.
Turnover increased by 10.5% to €51.3 billion, while underlying sales growth was 6.9% comprising volume growth of 3.4% and price growth of 3.3%. Emerging markets underlying sales growth was 11.4%, and now represent 55% of Unilever’s turnover.
Core earnings per share increased by 11% to €1.57.
“These results have been achieved in tough economic conditions, with volatile commodity costs and in an intensely competitive environment,” said CEO Paul Polman.
“They reflect the progress made in delivering bigger, better innovations and rolling them out faster, improving our execution in the market place and increased discipline driving savings in all areas of the business.”
“We remain focused on achieving another year of profitable volume growth ahead of our markets, steady and sustainable core operating margin improvement and strong cash flow.”
The company said, however, that growth in its foods business for the quarter was weak, in part due to difficult markets. In spreads, it saw a decline in sales although volume shares improved in response to actions the company took to ensure that its pricing was competitive. There is still more to do to drive category growth, according to Unilever, such as its liquid margarines for use in cooking. During the quarter, Becel Gold was extended to the Nordics and Bertolli Gold was launched in the UK. Dressings continued to perform well despite a step-up in competitive intensity. The company said that it continued to benefit from our campaign to inspire new uses of mayonnaise and is also seeing the impact of successful digital activities.
Despite sluggish growth in the core savoury business, new product innovations continued to perform well, said the company. Knorr jelly bouillon grew strongly driven by new variant launches such as Borsch and White Mushroom in Russia and Herbs and Spices in Austria and Switzerland. Knorr baking bags also grew rapidly and gained share in most markets despite intense competition. Unilever’s Food Solutions business, serving professional chefs, is said to have delivered solid results despite challenging developed markets, underpinned by double digit growth in key emerging markets.
Ice cream saw double-digit growth in the quarter, primarily driven by volume. Magnum completed a successful year by passing the €1 billion milestone on the back of Magnum Infinity and the recent launches into new countries such as the Philippines. Cornetto and Max both grew strongly in 2012. Ben & Jerry’s also performed well although Unilever said that it saw intense competition in take home ice cream, particularly in the US.
Beverages growth continued to improve in the quarter with Lipton progressing well, underpinned by the success of teapot bags in Turkey and the relaunch of the brand in Russia. India delivered a strong performance on Brooke Bond with double-digit growth in both the premium and value segments of the market.
