A manufacturer and supplier of fast moving consumer goods, with more than 400 brands focused on health and wellbeing, 14 of which generate sales in excess of €1 billion a year. I have a holding in my income portfolio (epic code: ULVR).
Unilever announced their first quarter results today declaring that turnover had increased by 12.3% to €12.8bn that included a positive currency impact of 10.6%.
Underlying sales growth was 2.8% and by category was:
Personal Care 2.7%
Foods 2.9%
Refreshment 2.5%
Home Care 3.1%
By territory organic growth was:
Asia/AMET/RUB 3.3%
The Americas 4.9%
Europe -0.4%
The quarterly dividend was increased by 6.8% to €0.302, although due to the weak Euro, the sterling equivalent showed a decline of 6.8% to 21.8p. In their Euro reporting currency, Unilever have increased their dividend by an average of 8% pa over the past 35 years, an impressive track record.
CEO Polman stated "...Despite high levels of currency and commodity volatility, we are now starting to see more tailwinds than headwinds in our markets, and expect our initiatives to deliver a further improvement in volume growth in the remainder of the year..."
The shares were up to an all time high on the announcement at 3011p, which places them on a P/E of 22.3 on 2015 expected earnings and a yield of 3%.
It's a shame that the dividend turned out to be a reduction because of the battered € but Unilever is still a solid company I suppose. I am just a bit saddened by that fact.
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