Unilever’s underlying sales growth accelerates in third quarter as it stays put in London HQ
Anglo-Dutch consumer titan Unilever boosted underlying sales growth by 3.8 per cent in the third quarter as all three of its major divisions performed strongly.
Turnover fell 4.5 per cent compared to the same quarter the previous year to €12.5bn (£11bn), however the company said this was largely due to disposals, including the £6bn sale of its spreads division to KKR which completed in June.
Sales volume grew 2.4 per cent in the period and price 1.4 per cent.
Despite the growth, Unilever's share price fell more than one per cent today as expectations for growth had been higher.
George Salmon, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "It’s encouraging to see underlying sales move in the right direction, with both volumes and pricing contributing to performance. However, while these results are solid enough, they’re not quite the stellar showing investors would have been looking for.”
Read more: Unilever keeps UK headquarters: Investors react
Chief executive Paul Polman said: "Growth accelerated in the third quarter across all divisions. We were able to increase prices whilst still maintaining good volume growth which reflects the strength of our brands and quality of our innovation programme. Our focus s building our business for the long-term continues to deliver high quality growth.”
Underlying sales growth in its beauty and personal care division grew four per cent, home care grew 4.5 per cent and foods and refreshment grew 3.2 per cent.
Read more: Unilever scraps proposals to leave London headquarters
Polman said: “We continue to expect underlying sales growth in the three to five per cent range, an improvement in underlying operating margin and strong cash flow. We remain on track for our 2020 goals."
Earlier this month the company backtracked on plans to move its corporate headquarters to the Netherlands after a significant investor backlash.
One of its senior executive appearing before the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy select committee this week said the company would engage more with shareholders on future decisions.