Unilever, the maker of Marmite, Dove and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, has announced a rise in sales driven by higher prices.
The consumer goods company, which has UK sites in London, Surrey and Gloucestershire, and a research hub in its historic Wirral home at Port Sunlight, said on Thursday (October 26) said underlying sales grew by 5.2% across the group in the latest quarter, when compared to the same period last year.
Unilever said this was driven by prices rising 5.8% while the volume of sales dipped by 0.6%, resulting in people paying more money for fewer items. The company also stated its turnover decreased by 3.8% to £13.2bn and its billion+ Euro brands, accounting for 56% of group turnover, delivered underlying sales growth of 7.2%, with 5.7% price growth and 1.4% volume growth, led by strong performances from Dove, Hellmann's, Rexona and Sunsilk.
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In its trading update, Unilever set out a new "action plan" for the business to boost its performance. The company said this would involve focusing on its most profitable 30 brands.
In addition, the company announced the appointment of Fernando Fernandez as chief financial officer, taking over from retiring Graeme Pitkethly, and said it would be shaking up the leadership of individual divisions across the group. Mr Fernandez who is currently president of Unilever's Beauty & Wellbeing Business Group will commence his new role from January 1 2024.
Hein Schumacher, Unilever chief executive, said: “Unilever is a company with strong fundamentals: a portfolio of great brands used by 3.4 billion people each day, number one or two category positions across 80% of its turnover, an unrivalled global footprint and a team of talented people.
“Despite these strengths, our performance in recent years has not matched our potential. The quality of our growth, productivity and returns have all under-delivered. Today we are setting out our action plan to close this gap.
“We will drive faster growth by stepping up innovation and investment behind our power brands; we will drive simplicity and productivity, leveraging the full strength of our operating model; and we will sharpen our performance culture through strong leadership and stretching goals.”
