Feb 12 (Reuters) – Unilever’s fourth-quarter underlying sales growth beat market expectations on Thursday, driven by a strong demand for brands such as Dove and Vaseline, although it warned that slowing markets could hurt growth this year.
After spinning off The Magnum Ice Cream Company in December, CEO Fernando Fernandez, who took over in March 2025, is now under pressure to show that Unilever’s push into personal care and beauty and wellbeing, which now account for more than half of turnover, is a winning strategy.
The company said it expects 2026 growth to be at the bottom end of its underlying sales growth multi-year guidance range of 4% to 6% due to slower market conditions.
Unilever’s annual underlying operating profit dipped 1.1% to 10.1 billion euros ($11.98 billion), roughly in line with market expectations of 10.12 billion euros.
The consumer goods giant posted underlying sales growth of 4.2% for the three months ended December 31, compared with 3.9% expected by analysts in a company-compiled poll.
($1 = 0.8428 euros)
(Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)
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