35% of Unilever’s turnover comes from US, India, China: Alan Jope

Unilever plans to accelerate in the US, India and China and leverage its emerging markets strength. This was stated by Alan Jope, CEO, Unilever, while presenting the results for full year 2020. In a release issued, Jope stated, “Unilever has strong brand and category leadership positions in the US, India and China, with around 35 per cent of our turnover coming from those three countries alone, and we believe we can bring sharper focus in those geographies and build even stronger positions. There is also significant opportunity beyond these markets and we will continue to build on our strong operating businesses in the world’s fastest growing economies.”

Jope noted that the operating environment in Unilever’s markets has been volatile since the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020. “In the fourth quarter, we continued to see changes in consumer behaviour and channel dynamics. Strict lockdowns in China and India led to market declines in the first and second quarters respectively, with both markets subsequently returning to growth during the year. China has normalised in many categories, while economic activity in India picked up particularly in the final quarter,” he added.

Jope further informed that emerging markets grew 1.2% as China and India returned to growth, after strict lockdowns in the first half of the year.

Key financial performance:

  • Underlying sales growth was 1.9%, with 1.6% volume and 0.3% price
  • Turnover decreased 2.4%
  • Underlying operating profit decreased 5.8%, but increased by 0.7% at constant exchange rates
  • Underlying earnings per share decreased 2.4%, but increased 4.1% at constant exchange rates
  • Diluted earnings per share of €2.12
  • Free cash flow up €1.5 billion to €7.7 billion
  • Dividend maintained through the year and increased in the fourth quarter by 4% to €0.4268 per share
  • Unified the group legal structure under a single parent company

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