Personal care is Unilever’s largest category in Q2 2010
C&T business sector boosts H1 turnover to €21.9bn
Unilever has announced an increase in turnover in the first half of 2010 to €21.9bn, an increase of 9.7% on the first half of 2009. Underlying sales growth increased by 3.8%, a figure significantly enhanced by the strong performance of the group’s personal care business, which grew underlying sales by 7.9% in the six month period coupled with turnover of €6.7bn.
Unilever’s personal care category enjoyed second quarter turnover of €3.6bn with underlying sales growth of 7.8%.
Ceo Paul Polman commented: “This is an encouraging result given the challenging economic and competitive environment and reflects the continuing investment behind our brands, better in-market execution, successful innovations and the extension of our brands into new markets. The consistent strong performance of our personal care business means that it became, in the quarter, our largest category.”
Polman added: “We continue to operate under the assumption of slow economic growth, particularly in developed markets where consumer confidence remains fragile.” Indeed, Western Europe and the Americas proved Unilever’s most sluggish business regions, with first half sales increasing 1.1% and 3.8% respectively. The group’s Asia, Africa and Central & Eastern Europe business meanwhile grew 7.9%.
