Unilever Q1 Turnover Rises

(RTTNews) - Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant Unilever Plc (UL, ULVR.L, UN) Thursday said turnover for the first quarter increased 12.3 percent from last year, reflecting a positive currency impact of 10.6 percent. Underlying sales growth was 2.8 percent, with emerging markets sales increasing 5.4 percent.

The company also declared a six percent higher quarterly interim dividend of 0.302 euros per Unilever N.V. ordinary share for the first quarter, and 0.2180 pound per Unilever plc ordinary share.

"We have had a good start to the year, helped by favourable currency movements but also an improvement in underlying sales. This is despite a continued challenging trading environment in many parts of the world. The actions we have been taking to put us on track for higher levels of growth are starting to pay off," CEO Paul Polman said in a statement.

The company reported a total turnover of 12.80 billion euros for the three-month period, up 12.3 percent from last year's 11.40 billion euros. Underlying volume increased 0.9 percent and pricing was up 1.9 percent from last year.

On an underlying basis, personal care segment sales of 4.79 billion euros grew 2.7 percent, driven by 2.6 percent higher pricing. The company said it has a strong innovation pipeline and it will see an acceleration in the second half of the year.

Underlying sales in the food segment increased 2.9 percent to 3.21 billion euros as a slight drop in price was more than offset by higher volumes amid strong sales in the run up to Easter which was earlier than last year.

Refreshment segment underlying sales grew 2.5 percent to 2.28 billion euros, driven by 2.6 percent higher pricing and innovations behind its premium ice cream brands. The company said it is building the green tea segment with new variants in India, Russia and the Middle East.

Homecare segment's underlying sales improved 3.1 percent to 2.53 billion euros, boosts by 2.3 percent rise in prices and broad-based growth.

According to the company, emerging markets grew by 5.4 percent, largely driven by price. In developed markets, North America again grew, while in Europe volume improved strongly but pricing was down across all categories.

European underlying sales edged down 0.4 percent, with volumes picking up strongly but broad-based price deflation continued across markets.

Underlying sales in the Americas grew 4.9 percent with strong pricing growth that helped to recover higher input costs.

In Asia/AMET/RUB region, underlying sales grew 3.3 percent, driven by both volume and price and included a strong start for Foods. However, there was a mixed performances across countries.

In London, Unilever shares are currently trading at 3,016.00 pence, up 82.00 pence or 2.79% on a volume of 0.17 million shares.

In Amsterdam, the shares are gaining 2.80%, and are currently trading at 42.05 euros.