Weak sales in Europe for Unilever
First quarter trading statement reveals underlying sales growth up 4.9% but below market expectations.
Paul Polman, Chief Executive Officer said, “Emerging markets delivered double digit growth for the eighth successive quarter and represented over 57% of our turnover. This strong performance reflects the impact of our successful innovations, the introduction of our brands into new markets, improved product quality and competitive in-market execution.
“Developed markets growth remained sluggish. Europe faced a particularly strong prior year comparator and whilst the overall performance was solid, the reported growth was held back by the slow start to the ice cream season and weakness in spreads.
The Unilever Sustainable Living Plan is becoming embedded across the business and increasingly driving our day-to-day decisions and actions, helping to drive increased sales whilst reducing costs and risks. Brands like Lifebuoy, Dove, Domestos, Knorr and Signal that have made sustainability central to their brand proposition continue to perform well. At the same time we have focused on eco-efficiencies in our factories. By reducing our usage of energy, water and materials, and by driving down waste, we release funds to invest in our brands and further drive growth.
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.”
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