Unilever : Delivering consistency in challenging conditions

Delivering consistency in challenging conditions

Published: 26/07/2022

Average read time: 9 minutes

Today, we announced our results for the first half of 2022

• Underlying sales growth of 8.1%, with 9.8% price and (1.6)% volume
• Turnover increased 14.9%, including a currency impact of 5.6%
• Underlying operating margin of 17.0%, a decrease of 180bps driven by input cost inflation
• Underlying earnings per share up 1.0%, including a currency impact of 4.9%
• The billion+ Euro brands, accounting for more than 50% of Group turnover, grew 9.4%
• €750 million share buyback tranche completed on 22 July, intention to launch second tranche in third quarter

Statement from Alan Jope

"Unilever has delivered a first half performance which builds on our momentum of 2021, despite the challenges of high inflation and slower global growth. Underlying sales growth of 8.1% was driven by strong pricing to mitigate input cost inflation, which, as expected, had some impact on volume. We are now raising our sales guidance for the year. Underlying operating margin was on track at 17% for the first half.

"We have made further progress against our strategic priorities. We are maintaining strong investment in our brands, supporting 9.4% underlying sales growth in our billion+ Euro brands. eCommerce sales now represent 14% of turnover, up from 6% in 2019. Of our three priority markets, the USA and India again grew strongly, while sales in China were affected by the lockdowns in the second quarter. We continue to reshape our portfolio, completing the sale of the global tea business ekaterra, and the acquisition of Nutrafol, a leading provider of hair wellness products. Prestige Beauty and Health & Wellbeing, now 4% of Group turnover, again grew double-digit.

"Our simpler, more category-focused organisation came into effect as planned on 1 July. This major change to Unilever's operating model is an important further step that will underpin the delivery of consistent growth, which remains our first priority. The challenges of inflation persist and the global macroeconomic outlook is uncertain, but we remain intensely focused on operational excellence and delivery in 2022 and beyond."

Outlook

Our guidance for underlying sales growth in 2022 was previously at the top end of a range of 4.5% to 6.5%. We now expect underlying sales growth to be above that range, driven by price with some further pressure on volume.

We expect net material inflation for the year to remain high at around €4.6 billion with our forecast for the second half largely unchanged at around €2.6 billion. We will continue to invest in the health of our brands. In the first half, we increased absolute brand and marketing investment, and we will again invest competitively in marketing, R&D and capital expenditure in the second half. Our full year underlying operating margin expectation remains at 16%, which is within our guided range of 16% to 17%.

The medium-term macroeconomic and cost inflation outlooks are uncertain and volatile, but delivering growth
remains our first priority. Against this backdrop, we continue to expect to improve margin in 2023 and 2024, through pricing, mix and savings.

Our market context

High input cost inflation has been widespread across our markets, and it is expected to remain elevated in the second half. While Covid-19 restrictions have been eased in most markets, the lockdown in China affected consumers particularly in the second quarter.

In the majority of markets in which we operate, market growth was driven by price which had an impact on market volumes. Food service and out-of-home ice cream channels benefitted in markets which reopened after lockdowns in the prior year, although tourism has not yet returned to pre-Covid levels.

Unilever overall performance

Underlying sales growth in the first half was 8.1% with 9.8% from price and (1.6)% from volume. Growth was broad-based across all Divisions. Price has sequentially stepped up over the past two quarters, reaching 11.2% in the second quarter, which had, as expected, some negative impact on volume.

This was more pronounced in Home Care, which was particularly exposed to rising input costs and took the highest pricing action, leading to underlying sales growth of 10.7%. Beauty & Personal Care grew 7.5%, driven by price and continued strong growth in Prestige Beauty and Health & Wellbeing, which is Unilever's vitamins, minerals and supplements business. Foods & Refreshment grew 7.3% with slightly negative volume at (0.9)%, although volumes were flat excluding ekaterra. Ice cream out-of-home and Unilever Food Solutions showed strong double-digit growth in the first half, compensating for lower growth of in-home ice cream.

Emerging markets grew by 10.0% with a 12.1% contribution from price and volume at (1.8)%, including an estimated adverse impact of around 70bps from the lockdowns in China. Pricing in Latin America was strong at 19.1% with volumes contracting by (4.8)%. South Asia grew strongly through both price and volume. Turkey delivered double-digit volume growth by managing dynamically through a high inflation environment. Developed markets increased by 5.5%, with 6.7% from price and (1.2)% from volume. North America grew 8.7%, helped by strong performances of dressings and our businesses in high growth areas such as Health & Wellbeing.

Turnover increased 14.9% to €29.6 billion, which included a currency impact of 5.6% and 0.6% from acquisitions net of disposals. Underlying operating profit was €5.0 billion, up 4.1% versus the prior year. Underlying operating margin declined by 180bps to 17.0%. Gross margin decreased by 210bps which reflected the very high inflation in input costs that was only partially mitigated by the strong pricing action and savings delivery.

Brand and marketing investment was stepped up by €0.2 billion in constant exchange rates, which equated to a 40bps contribution to margin. Overheads increased by 10bps largely due to increased investment in business models with a higher overheads structure.

We completed the announced sale of our global tea business, ekaterra, on 1 July 2022. On 7 July, we completed the acquisition of a majority stake in Nutrafol, a leading provider of hair wellness products, which had been announced on 30 May 2022.

On 23 March, we commenced the first tranche of €750 million of the share buyback programme of up to €3 billion. As at 30 June, total consideration for the repurchase of shares was €648 million. This tranche completed on 22 July. It is our intention to launch a second €750 million tranche of our planned share buyback during the third quarter of 2022. This will be confirmed with a launch announcement in due course.

In January 2022, we announced a new, simpler, more category-focused operating model for Unilever organised around five Business Groups and a technology-driven backbone, Unilever Business Operations. The reorganisation is on schedule with the new structure in place on 1 July. We expect it to be achieved within existing restructuring plans, and to generate around €600 million of cost savings over two years, with the majority in 2023.

Beauty & Personal Care

Beauty & Personal Care underlying sales grew 7.5% with 9.0% from price and (1.3)% from volume. Strong price increases landed across most categories, and were particularly pronounced in Latin America, South Asia and Turkey.

Deodorants delivered double-digit growth, helped by continued premiumisation and strong innovations, such as the 72-hour protection technology launched withRexona. Skin care grew low single-digit on the back of a strong prior year base, with strong growth of Pond's in India partially offset by a decline in China. Skin cleansing returned to growth, with Dove landing strong pricing and flat volume supported by the launch of premium innovations in North America.

Overall skin cleansing volumes declined mid single-digit, particularly affected by the pricing in Europe and South Asia. Hair care grew mid single-digit, driven by India and North America, partially offset by declines in North Asia and Europe. Mid single-digit growth in oral care was driven by a strong performance in Indonesia with modest growth elsewhere. Prestige Beauty continued its double-digit growth momentum with Tatcha successfully launching in the UK and expanding in premium channels in China.

Underlying operating margin decreased 180bps as gross margin declined as a result of high input cost inflation.

Home Care

Home Care underlying sales grew 10.7% with 14.5% from price and (3.4)% from volume. Double-digit pricing landed across most geographies in response to very high increases in raw material costs.

Fabric cleaning continued its momentum, posting strong double-digit growth with marginal volume decline. The growth was broad-based across all formats, with strong contributions from OMO and Radiant. South Asia and Turkey achieved double-digit pricing and positive volumes, supported by the continuous development of the liquids market. Fabric enhancers grew mid single-digit with accelerated performance in the second quarter.

Comfort continued its growth momentum in Brazil and China but faced declining markets in South-East Asia and Europe. Home & hygiene grew low single-digit with double-digit pricing offset by volume declines across most geographies. Household cleaner volumes declined as a result of a slowdown in consumers' disinfecting habits, while dishwash sales grew driven by India and South-East Asia.

Underlying operating margin declined 200bps driven by a substantial gross margin reduction partially offset by lower brand and marketing investment.

Foods & Refreshment

Foods & Refreshment underlying sales grew 7.3% with 8.3% from price and (0.9)% from volume. Pricing was broad-based and particularly high in dressings given the input cost increases.

Ice cream underlying sales grew high single-digit driven by strong growth in the out-of-home business which landed double-digit price and volume growth. Magnum and Cornetto continued their growth momentum supported by new variant innovations, while ice cream suffered from supply issues in the United States. In-home sales were slightly up, although volumes declined in Europe and North America where markets contracted as a result of some post-Covid channel switching by consumers.

Foods also grew high single-digit with slightly negative volumes. Unilever Food Solutions, our food service business, landed strong double-digit growth and achieved sales above pre-Covid levels despite the severe China lockdown impact in the second quarter. In-home foods grew high single-digit driven by high pricing and marginally negative volumes, on the back of a strong comparator. Hellmann's delivered double-digit, price-driven growth, which was supported by its global purpose campaign "Turn nothing into something".

Underlying operating margin decreased 170bps predominantly driven by lower gross margin.

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