Pressure on margins does not keep Unilever down

The group blames the economic insecurity in its main markets and the
high prices for raw materials for slowing down its growth (only +0.1%
underlying volume growth in the fourth quarter) and lowering its
operational margin (-0.1%).

All is well – except for Western Europe

For 2011, prices went up +4.8% to ensure a 6.5% sales growth, the other
1.6% coming from volume growth. Personal care (+8.2%) and Home care
(+8.1%) were the best performing categories, while the region “Asia,
Africa and CEE” witnessed the biggest sales growth (+10.5%). The
Americas were almost equal to the total group growth with +6.3%, while
Western Europe came to a near-standstill with +0.7% in sales (but -1.2%
in volume).

As sales growth in the emerging countries slows down and sales volume
even decreases in some of its main markets, Unilever is very cautious
about 2012. “We expect the external macro-economic environment to remain
difficult in 2012”, says Polman. “Within this challenging context our
over-riding priority is to  manage our brands for the long term health
of the business whilst delivering: profitable volume growth ahead of 
our markets, steady and sustainable core operating margin improvement
and strong cash flow.
”