The FMCG large will “considerably make investments” in model and advertising and marketing, because it pledges to extend absolute spend yearly.
Unilever’s CEO has hailed a “good” set of outcomes as displaying progress in direction of the corporate’s ambition of turning into “a advertising and marketing and gross sales machine”.
The patron items enterprise, which owns manufacturers together with Dove, Hellmann’s and Vaseline, grew its underlying gross sales by 3.9% throughout the third quarter. Unilever additionally managed to develop quantity gross sales by 1.5% within the quarter. This progress was broad-based throughout all its completely different enterprise models.
CEO Fernando Fernandez took over at Unilever earlier this yr with a pledge to remodel the enterprise, quick. Final month, he reported being “fed up with mediocrity” and promised to “assault” the difficulty the place he noticed it.
Talking to buyers at this time (23 October), Fernandez hailed some progress in direction of his purpose of reworking Unilever.
Supply: Unilever
Unilever’s CEO has hailed a “good” set of outcomes as displaying progress in direction of the corporate’s ambition of turning into “a advertising and marketing and gross sales machine”.
The patron items enterprise, which owns manufacturers together with Dove, Hellmann’s and Vaseline, grew its underlying gross sales by 3.9% throughout the third quarter. Unilever additionally managed to develop quantity gross sales by 1.5% within the quarter. This progress was broad-based throughout all its completely different enterprise models.
CEO Fernando Fernandez took over at Unilever earlier this yr with a pledge to remodel the enterprise, quick. Final month, he reported being “fed up with mediocrity” and promised to “assault” the difficulty the place he noticed it.
Talking to buyers at this time (23 October), Fernandez hailed some progress in direction of his purpose of reworking Unilever.
“A constructive set of outcomes this quarter […] reaffirm our confidence within the steps we’ve got taken to make Unilever a advertising and marketing and gross sales machine,” he stated.
That purpose is one thing which “permeates every thing” Unilever does, from driving what Fernandez phrases “want at scale” for its manufacturers to bettering execution throughout the enterprise.
One key purpose for Unilever is to develop its margins, defined CFO Srinivas Phatak. Financial savings and effectivity programmes are a cornerstone of that purpose, which the enterprise indicated it’s making “progress” on.
Nonetheless, whereas expanded margins are a purpose, sustained model funding stays a precedence.
“We’re persevering with to speculate considerably behind our manufacturers,” Phatak stated. “We’ve stated that we’ll proceed to extend absolute spend yearly.”
He indicated this yr Unilever will improve its absolute funding in advertising and marketing to maintain it within the vary of 15% to 16% of income. On a proportion of income foundation, that is pretty in keeping with final yr, when model and advertising and marketing spend as a proportion of group turnover was 15.5% (up from 14.3% in 2023). Final yr’s improve in spend was hailed as the very best degree of funding in advertising and marketing at Unilever for a decade.
The enterprise is already seeing some dividends from elevated ranges of name funding, notably in North America, which recorded its fifth consecutive quarter of strong quantity led progress. This progress was partly pushed by “sustained model funding”, Fernandez added.
Concentrate on magnificence and wellbeing
Upon taking up as CEO, Fernandez highlighted magnificence and wellbeing, and private care as areas of focus, or what he termed “main progress drivers”. These enterprise models have been credited with delivering a “significantly sturdy efficiency”.
Magnificence and wellbeing grew underlying gross sales 5.1% within the third quarter, with main manufacturers together with Dove hair, Vaseline and Liquid I.V. delivering “double-digit, volume-led progress”.
Private care delivered underlying gross sales progress of 4.1%. Fernandez highlighted the function of innovation in driving progress, with entire physique deodorants, for instance, driving “sturdy client engagement and share positive aspects”.
One other notable shift was an acceleration in direction of digital channels and ecommerce, one thing Unilever stated was taking place each by way of acquisitions (reminiscent of with deodorant model Wild and cleaning soap model Dr Squatch) and organically by way of its present manufacturers.
The enterprise has additionally grown its Amazon gross sales by 15%, Walmart.com by 5% and TikTok Store globally by 70%.
“Our portfolio is a lot better suited now after the reset we’ve got finished, with disposals of worth manufacturers and with important acquisitions within the premium segments, digitally native manufacturers which are working with quite a lot of success,” Fernandez stated.
