Unilever sales surge but no Cadbury bid
CONSUMER goods giant Unilever yesterday beat City forecasts with a 3.6 per cent rise in third-quarter underlying volume sales, and ruled out launching a bid for confectionary group Cadbury.
News of a potential candidate ruling itself out of a bidding war will not help matters for Cadbury who may have been counting on a white knight bidder to derail Kraft’s takeover offer.
But the maker of Magnum, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and Surf washing powder said all regions and categories showed growth while it was on track to restore volume growth for 2009, without hitting margins or cash flow.
And the group added that it doesn’t see anything to slow its underlying momentum. Unilever is currently undergoing a dramatic turnaround under chief executive Paul Polman.
Polman, who took over in January having previously worked at larger rivals Procter & Gamble and Nestle, has targeted reigniting volume growth after the group relied on price rises for all its sales increase in its first-quarter.
The group said it had trimmed prices on some products by up to three per cent.
Group turnover fell two per cent to €10.2bn (£9.1bn) in the quarter, with net profits falling 35 per cent to €1.1bn.
Evolution Securities analyst Warren Ackerman said: “There is clear progress against their four pillars: brands & innovation, winning with customers, cash & costs and the new organisation. We expect consensus earnings to nudge up on better margins & lower finance costs”.