UNA Unilever PLC

   By Maryam Cockar 
 

Unilever PLC (ULVR.LN) posted earnings for 2017 on Thursday. Here's how the results came in:

TURNOVER: The Anglo-Dutch consumer goods company said turnover increased 1.9% in 2017 to 53.7 billion euros ($66.8 billion) from EUR52.71 billion a year earlier. This was roughly in line with the EUR53.66 billion analysts at Investec had expected.

PRETAX PROFIT: FTSE 100-listed Unilever made a profit of EUR8.15 billion, up from EUR7.47 billion in 2016. This was below Investec's estimate of EUR9.58 billion.

WHAT WE WATCHED:

CUTTING COSTS: After rebuffing a GBP115 billion takeover bid by Kraft Heinz Co. last February, Unilever said it would increase margins and profitability. Analysts at Hargreaves Lansdown previously said the company had made a strong start to cut costs. Unilever said the savings program delivered faster than expected in 2017 with savings of more than EUR2 billion, which puts it on track to meet its EUR6 billion savings target by 2020.

SALES GROWTH: Unilever said its underlying sales growth, excluding growth from the spreads and margarine business which it sold in December, was 3.5% in 2017 with 2.4% attributed to higher prices and 1% for volume. The company also said it expects to achieve another year of sales growth between 3% and 5% in 2018.

OPERATING MARGIN: Unilever said with its EUR2 billion of savings it is also on course to meet its 20% underlying operating margin target by 2020.

Write to Maryam Cockar at maryam.cockar@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 01, 2018 06:05 ET (11:05 GMT)

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