Underlying growth better than expected
Unilever’s turnover in the first quarter dropped 6.3 % to 11.4 billion euro, mostly because of negative exchange rate fluctuations, which were at 8.9 %. The underlying growth, which does not consider the purchases and exchange rates, reach 3.6 %, more than the 3.3 % analysts had expected.
The emerging markets managed a 6.6 % increase for the underlying turnover, lower than the 8.4 % from 2013’s fourth quarter. “Emerging markets are currently passing through a period of slower demand and economic volatility but our strategy remains unchanged. We continue to invest in our brands so that they are well-placed to benefit from the significant longer term growth opportunity that will come from growing populations and higher disposable income”, CEO Paul Polman said.
Unilever recently sold the BiFi brand and will now consider selling several other brands, like the pasta sauce department in North America and maybe SlimFast. The company bought SlimFast for 1.75 billion euro in 2000, but the diet product sales has dropped considerably since then in the United States.
