Unilever's recent acquisitions boost H1 2015 results

Published: 23-Jul-2015

Despite challenging conditions, the company has put in a solid performance

Unilever has shared its financial results for the first half of 2015. The company reports increased turnover and sales, despite what it called 'challenging conditions'.

Turnover increased 12% to €27bn, including a positive currency impact of 10%, with sales growth of 2.9%. Sales in emerging markets also grew 6%, whilst volume growth was at 1.1% and pricing increased 1.7%. The results come shortly after Unilever has acquired several prestige skin care brands.

Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever, said: "The first half demonstrates again the progress we have made in the transformation of Unilever to deliver consistent, competitive, profitable and responsible growth, now in the seventh year. During the past six months we have made major progress in the establishment of our Prestige Personal Care business with the announced acquisitions of Dermalogica, Murad, Kate Somerville and REN."

The company added that consumer demand in Europe and North America remains flat, whilst their growth in emerging markets was "subdued". However, the company was positive about their personal care portfolio, predicting accelerated growth in the second half of 2015. Unilever attributed growth partially to compressed deodorants, which it plans to bring into Latin America, the Dove Advanced Hair Series, which is establishing itself in Asia and the new premium range of TRESemmé.

How the company expects its new Prestige portfolio to impact turnover in the second half of the year was not clear, but Polman added: "We plan for another year of volume growth ahead of our markets, steady improvement in core operating margin and strong cash flow."

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