A strong performance from beauty brand Dove was the highlight of a “resilient performance” in Unilever’s Q1 results, with new CEO Fernando Fernandez insisting that despite uncertainty, the FTSE 100 giant was on track to deliver its full-year 2025 plan.
Sales fell 0.9% to €14.8bn in the first quarter, but underlying sales growth was 3%, said Unilever, driven by both volume (1.3%) and value growth (1.7%).
Dove, Unilever’s biggest brand, grew sales by over 8%, supported by the relaunch of its haircare range and the continued success and rollout of its body serum shower collection and whole-body deodorants, as well as skin cleansing lines, with Dove Men+Care relaunching with updated packaging and introducing a new range of premium lines.
There were also strong performances from Vaseline and Magnum. In total Unilever’s ‘power brands’ grew at 3%, but the homecare power brands were impacted by challenging conditions, particularly in Brazil. Overall homecare sales fell 4.2% with underlying sales up 0.9%, despite “high-single-digit growth in Europe, boosted by the rollout of NPD”.
On the food side sales were also disappointing. Underlying growth of 1.6% was “price-led amidst slow markets”, while Knorr was also lapping strong double-digital growth from its Unilever Food Solutions business in the previous year. But Hellmann’s sales recorded mid-single-digit growth, boosted by the flavoured mayo range, which introduced a number of new variants.
But Fernandez said plans to turn Unilever into a “consistently higher-performing business” were on track.
“We have started the year with a resilient performance. First-quarter underlying sales growth of 3% reflects the strength of our increasingly premium and innovation-led portfolio in developed markets.”
While acknowledging the “heightened global macroeconomic uncertainty”, Fernandez said he was confident that “the quality of our innovation programme, the strong investment behind our brands and our improving competitiveness give us confidence we will deliver on our full-year plan.
“We expect underlying sales growth to be within our range of 3% to 5%. This is underpinned by our strong innovation pipeline, good momentum in developed markets, and expected improvements in Indonesia and China in the second half of the year resulting from the decisive actions we have taken in both markets.”
The direct impact of tariffs on Unilever’s profitability was expected to be “limited and manageable” added Fernandez. However, with uncertainty over the macroeconomic environment, currency stability and consumer sentiment, Unilever would need to be “agile in our plans as necessary”.
The productivity programme to deliver €550m of savings by the end of the year were ahead of plan. Launched in 2024, the restructure will save an expected €800m over a three-year period.
The spin-off of the ice cream business is also on track to complete in the fourth quarter of 2025. The Magnum Ice Cream Company, as it will be called, will operate on a standalone basis from 1 July with its main listing on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange.
The ice cream division was one of the stronger-performing business units. Sales rose 2.8%, with underlying sales up 4%. The strongest performance came from take-home sales but power brand Magnum grew sales across both channels, supported by the introduction of its Utopia range, and further expansion of Magnum Bon Bons into additional markets. Cornetto’s Disk cones were also launched in Europe and Australia, while Ben & Jerry’s launched a larger, shareable size and new Sundae flavours.
Ahead of the spin-off Unilever has promised “an exciting product pipeline, more efficient go-to-market strategies, better optimisation of its supply chain and the creation of a dedicated sales team” as the building blocks to create a “world-leading” standalone listed business.
Unilever’s share price, which has risen by 24% in the last 12 months, fell 1.2% in opening trading this morning to 4,767p.
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