2024 First Half Results
| Innovation and brand investment driving faster volume growth |
| Underlying performance | GAAP measures | ||||||||
| (unaudited) | 2024 | vs 2023 | 2024 | vs 2023 | |||||
| First Half | |||||||||
| Underlying sales growth (USG) | 4.1% | Turnover | €31.1bn | 2.3% | |||||
| Beauty & Wellbeing | 7.1% | Beauty & Wellbeing | €6.5bn | 5.1% | |||||
| Personal Care | 5.6% | Personal Care | €7.0bn | 0.6% | |||||
| Home Care | 3.3% | Home Care | €6.3bn | 2.0% | |||||
| Nutrition | 3.2% | Nutrition | €6.7bn | 1.3% | |||||
| Ice Cream | 0.6% | Ice Cream | €4.6bn | 2.8% | |||||
| Underlying operating profit | €6.1bn | 17.1% | Operating profit | €5.9bn | 7.8% | ||||
| Underlying operating margin | 19.6% | 250bps | Operating margin | 19.1% | 100bps | ||||
| Underlying earnings per share | €1.62 | 16.3% | Diluted earnings per share | €1.47 | 5.4% | ||||
| Free cash flow | €2.2bn | €(0.3)bn | Net profit | €4.0bn | 3.5% | ||||
| Second Quarter | |||||||||
| USG | 3.9% | Turnover | €16.1bn | 2.2% | |||||
| Quarterly dividend payable in September 2024 | €0.4396 | per share(a) | 3.0% | ||||||
(a) See note 9 for more information on dividends
First half highlights
• Underlying sales growth of 4.1%, with volumes up 2.6%
• Power Brands (~75% of turnover) leading growth with 5.7% USG and volumes up 4.0%
• Turnover increased 2.3% to €31.1 billion with (1.1)% impact from currency and (0.7)% from net disposals
• Underlying operating margin up 250bps to 19.6%, with gross margin up 420bps
• Brand and marketing investment up 180bps to 15.1%, focused on Power Brands
• Underlying EPS increased 16.3%, diluted EPS up 5.4%
• Quarterly dividend raised by 3%; €1.5bn share buyback commenced
• Free cash flow of €2.2 billion, reflecting seasonal working capital outflow
• Productivity programme underway and separation of Ice Cream on track
Chief Executive Officer statement
“We are focused on driving high-quality sales growth and gross margin expansion, led by our Power Brands. Over the first half, we made progress on those ambitions.
Underlying sales grew 4.1%, driven by a third consecutive quarter of positive, improving volume growth, while pricing continued to moderate in line with our expectations. Strong gross margin progression fuelled increased investment behind our innovations, and resulted in a step-up of our profitability.
We continue to embed the Growth Action Plan, doing fewer things, better and with greater impact. The implementation of a comprehensive productivity programme and the separation of Ice Cream are key to delivering on that commitment and we are progressing at pace.
There is much to do, but we remain focused on transforming Unilever into a consistently higher performing business.”
Hein Schumacher
| Outlook |
We continue to expect underlying sales growth (USG) for 2024 to be within our multi-year range of 3% to 5%, with the majority of the growth being driven by volume.
Underlying operating margin for the full year is expected to be at least 18%, with increasing investment behind our brands. We expect the year-on-year margin progression in the second half to be smaller than in the first half.
Our very strong gross margin progression in the first half reflects positive contributions from volume leverage, mix and net productivity but also factors that will not repeat in the second half such as, a low prior year comparator affected by high input costs, and carry-over pricing from a period of higher inflation.
For the full report please click the following link to be directed to Unilever PLC RNS page: https://otp.tools.investis.com/clients/uk/unilever/rns1/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=129&newsid=1846284