Unilever sees quiet end to cost crisis

Despite falling volumes (especially in Europe), Unilever was able to raise its sales and profit as it was able to increase its prices. The multinational thinks prices will rise less sharply in the rest of the year.

European sales volume plummets

Newly appointed CEO Hein Schumacher was able to start his career with a 7.9 % sales growth in the second quarter, to 15.7 billion euros. This growth was solely due to price increases, as volumes dropped by 0.3 %. In the first half of the year, sales rose 2.7 % to 30,4 billion euros, and net profit went up 21 % to 3.9 billion euros.

In Europe, the multinational did not get away with those sharp price increases: European volumes fell by almost 10 % in the second quarter. The producer of Dove, Knorr and Magnum expects price rises to slow down later in the year: of the two billion euros in cost increases that Unilever had anticipated for this year, most of it is behind us: in the second half of the year, the group expects only a 400 million euro cost inflation.