Half Year 2025 Unilever PLC Earnings Call Transcript
Key Points
- Unilever PLC (UL) achieved underlying sales growth of 3.4% in the first half of 2025, with a balanced contribution from volume and price.
- The company reported strong performance in developed markets, with North America and Europe showing significant sales growth.
- Emerging markets, particularly Asia Pacific Africa, showed improvement with accelerated growth in the second quarter.
- Unilever's Power Brands, which account for over 75% of group turnover, grew by 3.8% in the first half, driven by strong performances from brands like Vaseline and Magnum.
- The company is on track with the demerger of its Ice Cream business, which is expected to enhance focus and operational efficiency.
- Volume performance in Latin America was poor in the second quarter, impacted by slowing markets and the need to increase prices due to currency appreciation.
- The company faced inflationary pressures from commodities and currency, notably affecting Ice Cream and Personal Care segments.
- Unilever's turnover for the first half was down 3.2% year-on-year, primarily due to negative currency impacts.
- The company experienced a decline in volume in Indonesia and China, although improvements are expected in the second half.
- Free cash flow for the first half of 2025 was significantly lower compared to the prior year, affected by Ice Cream separation costs and higher working capital.
Good morning, and welcome to Unilever's second quarter trading statement for 2025. Thank you for joining us. I am joined today by Srini Phatak, our Acting Chief Financial Officer. In a moment, Srini will take you through the details of the second quarter and first half results. I will then come back to talk more broadly about the continuing transformation of the business and how we see the remainder of this year and beyond.
First of all, let me set out what I see to be the key elements of our solid performance in the first half and, importantly, why these give us real confidence when it comes to delivery in the full year. There are five elements in particular that I would like to highlight.
First, the balance of our growth. We delivered underlying sales growth for the half of 3.4% and we did it with a good balance of volume and price. Volumes improved sequentially over the course of the half despite subdued markets with first half market volume growth at around 1.3%. Importantly, volume growth was broad-based
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