Unilever Innovating For Long-Term Growth, On Lookout For Acquisitions

摘要

Acquisitions and innovations in personal care, including Baby Dove, should help position Unilever PLC for long-term growth as it continues to weather economic headwinds that eroded full-year sales. Turnover declined 2.7% in fiscal 2014 to roughly $55.95 billion (?48.4 billion), the Anglo-Dutch consumer-goods firm reported Jan. 20, citing challenging market conditions that it doesn't expect to improve in fiscal 2015. However, the company saw underlying sales growth of 2.9% for the year -1% coming from volume and the balance from pricing - performing ahead of its markets and demonstrating "the robustness of our model," CFO Jean-Marc Huet asserted during a same-day call.