Yahoo Finance Marmite and Persil maker Unilever set for 'challenging year' — but avoids mentioning Brexit
Unilever (ULVR.L), maker of Marmite, Dove soap, and Persil, warned of a “challenging” year ahead, after it reported lower-than-expected fourth-quarter sales on Thursday.
The household goods giant’s new CEO Alan Jope said in the group’s 2018 final results that “in 2019 we expect market conditions to remain challenging.”
“We anticipate underlying sales growth will be in the lower half of our multi-year 3-5% range, with continued improvement in underlying operating margin and another year of strong free cash flow. We remain on track for our 2020 goals.”
Unilever’s reported turnover of €49.6bn (£43.5bn, $57bn) for the full year. In the fourth quarter, underlying sales rose just 2.9%, compared with the 3.5% analysts were generally expecting. The group blamed flat volume growth in developed markets.
Interestingly, Unilever avoided mentioning the word “Brexit” in its statement as it tries to distance itself from its botched plans to move its headquarters from the UK to the Netherlands.
Unilever employs about 7,300 people in Britain and 3,100 in the Netherlands. Former CEO Paul Polman was pushing for Unilever’s HQ to be moved to Amsterdam from London in light of Brexit. The plan came under huge scrutiny and backlash from shareholders, leading to a rebellion from its investors.
While Polman said the proposed move wasn’t due to Brexit, he was a critic of Britain severing ties with the EU. Polman then quit after nearly a decade in the job at the end of November last year and Jope took the reins on 1 Jan, 2019.
READ MORE: Why Unilever Is Abandoning its London Base for Headquarters in the Netherlands
