Unilever reports best H1 in a decade in half-year 2026 financial update

By Alessandro Carrara | Published: 28-Jul-2026

Unilever offloaded its food business in March after much speculation, with the UK conglomerate doubling down on its Beauty & Wellbeing offering, and has benefitted from the divestment

Unilever has reported a robust H1 2026 as the UK conglomerate continues to benefit from the divestment of its food division earlier this year.

Underlying sales increased 4.8% and turnover reached €25.6bn during this period, a 0.5% increase, which was driven by volume-led growth.

Volume growth was led by Unilever’s ‘Power Brands’ – a group of 30 core beauty, wellness and home care companies, including Dove, Vaseline and Sunsilk – which contributed 78% of turnover.

Unilever offloaded its food business in March after much speculation, as the British consumer goods goliath pivots its focus to beauty, personal care, wellness and home care – with Cosmetics Business investigating whether this was the right move for the business.

The US$44.8bn deal merger will combine Unilever Foods, the giant’s food arm – which includes brands such as Hellmann’s mayonnaise and Marmite – with American food conglomerate McCormick & Company’s brand portfolio.

“We have delivered a strong volume-led performance in the first half, with a significant step-up in the second quarter, the best volume quarter at Unilever in over a decade,” said Unilever CEO Fernando Fernandez.

“Our Power Brands continued to outperform, with all business groups delivering volume-led growth.

“Emerging markets showed momentum – India, Indonesia and Latin America all delivered strong growth – while North America again outperformed its market.”

Unilever’s Beauty & Wellbeing division represented 25% of group turnover for the half-year period, with underlying sales growing 5.9%, with 4.5% from volume and 1.3% from price.

Underlying operating profit was €1.3bn, up 1% versus the prior year.

Unilever also benefited from its prestige beauty brands, which include Dermalogica, Paula's Choice, Tatcha, Hourglass and K18.

Hair care delivered high-single digit growth, with mid-single digit volume and low-single digit price, while Dove grew double-digit led by its premium innovations, including its Fibre Repair technology range.

Skin care grew in low-single digits, driven by volume, with strong performances from Paula's Choice, Hourglass and Tatcha in the second quarter.

The beauty category’s performance was partially offset by a softer performance in the Asia Pacific Africa region.

The overall robust performance has led Unilever to up its full-year outlook, now expecting underlying sales growth between 4% and 6%.

Fernandez added: “These results show our ability to continue performing while transforming our portfolio.

“Our brands are stronger, our execution is sharper, and we are driving desire at scale.

“Our combination of Foods with McCormick is progressing well and will unlock significant value, making Unilever a focused pureplay HPC company, while giving foods the platform to thrive as part of a global powerhouse in flavour.

“The macroeconomic environment remains uncertain, but our consistency, discipline and strong first-half performance give us confidence that we are well positioned to deliver our upgraded full year outlook."