AGM Presentation 2008 Group Chief Executive Good morning everyone.

It is very good, as always, to see so many of you here. I am delighted to have this opportunity to talk to you about ’s performance in 2007, and to share some thoughts on how we see the remainder of 2008 evolving.

But let me start with 2007.

By any measure, it was a good year for Unilever.

It was our third consecutive year of accelerating sales growth. Underlying sales growth rose from 3.8% in the previous twelve months to 5.5% in 2007 – our best performance for many years.

And the story was good, not only in terms of sales, but also profitability. Our underlying operating margin improved by 0.2 percentage points – that despite a continuing sharp rise throughout the year in commodity costs.

Pleasingly, our strong performance was consistent throughout the year – but also across the whole of our business.

Particularly noteworthy was the marked improvement in Europe, where - compared to the previous year – our rate of growth picked up well to just under 3%. This in a fiercely competitive market.

The results in Europe were helped by growth in all of our major markets – including the UK, the Netherlands, Italy and Germany – but also by a very strong performance in Russia: a market we have made one of our strategic priorities. Strong double-digit growth last year suggests we have the opportunity to make an excellent return on our investment in Russia.

Our other regions also experienced an improved performance in 2007.

Full-year growth in the Americas was 4.1%.

Latin America grew by 5.6%. Brazil and Mexico started slowly but improved throughout the year and the rest of the region performed well.

Our US business delivered another year of solid growth at just over 3% – a good performance in the light of challenging economic conditions.

In Asia Africa we grew by an impressive 11%, reflecting not only the potential of these markets, but also the priority we attach to building our businesses there.

These markets account for a growing share of our business, and in 2007 we saw a strong performance across all the key countries – notably China, but also in places where Unilever already has a more established base: India, the Philippines, Indonesia, Turkey and South Africa, for example.

The theme of consistent and broad-based growth was also reflected across all major and categories.

So, in Personal Care, for example – a key priority for us – we grew by 6.7%.

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It was another excellent year, in particular, for our deodorants business, with the and brands both growing in double digits. We also benefited from the successful launch early last year of pro.age – a product range targeted at the over 50s market.

Not something, of course, of any interest to this audience… not yet, at least!

Dove pro.age is an excellent example of how to build on the strengths and the values of an established by extending it into new segments of the market.

It was also a good year in Home Care, which grew by over 6%. Our ‘Dirt is Good’ brand positioning platform continues to be a key factor behind the resurgence of our fabric cleaning business, accounting today for some €2.6 billion in sales, up from €400 million just three years ago.

We were also boosted in 2007 by the roll out in Europe and Latin America of the environmentally-friendly Small & Mighty range, which – because it is highly concentrated – uses significantly less packaging and other materials, as well as reducing the amount of transportation required.

In Foods too we enjoyed a strong year. Indeed, the improved performance across many of our foods categories was one of the highlights of 2007.

In Savoury, Dressings and Spreads, for example, we grew by 5%. Growth was driven by initiatives such as our highly successful ‘Goodness of Margarine’ campaign, which promotes the health benefits of margarine.

Also worth noting is that , Unilever’s largest brand, had an excellent year and now accounts for more than €4 billion of sales a year.

Another brand that enjoyed an outstanding year was tea, which – thanks to innovations like Lipton pyramid teabags – helped to drive growth of 4.2% in Beverages and Ice Cream.

Our ice cream business contributed its share of growth thanks to premium offerings like Temptation and the expansion in a number of geographies of our Ben & Jerry’s brand.

And finally, Unilever Foodsolutions enjoyed another excellent year, with growth of 6.5%, highlighting the very exciting opportunity that the foodservice business offers.

This strong performance across many of our brands was underpinned by some great advertising.

Our commitment to go on investing behind our brands has been one of the key factors driving our growth in recent years.

And this continued in 2007 despite the significant additional cost pressures we faced during the year. We were able to do this in part thanks to the success of our savings programme, which delivered close to €1 billion in 2007.

As shareholders, you will have been pleased I am sure, to note that earnings per share from continuing operations rose by 12% during 2007 to €1.32.

And we continue to be effective in translating profit into cash – with €5.2 billion of cash flow from operating activities in 2007.

As you will have seen, we have proposed an increase of 7% in the total dividend for 2007. By maintaining a pay-out ratio in excess of 50% this puts us in the top third of our industry group.

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We have now increased our dividend for each of the last 8 years.

It is a further mark of the financial health of the business that, in 2007, we also completed a share buy- back programme to the value of 1.5 billion euros – and we plan to buy back at least as much in 2008.

In total therefore, during 2007 we returned €3.7 billion to you, our shareholders.

These then are some of the business highlights of last year.

The story they tell, I believe, is one of…

• Improved results.

• Consistent performance throughout the year – and across the whole business.

• And growth which is both profitable and sustainable.

These results and this improved performance didn’t happen by chance.

They are the direct consequence of the changes we have been making to the business – to our strategy, priorities, organisation and people.

In the last few years Unilever has undergone a thorough transformation. And the changes are working. Indeed, it was a mark of our growing confidence in the direction we have set, that in the middle of last year we announced an acceleration of Unilever’s growth agenda. This included:

• First, increasing our growth potential by disposing of some €2 billion of brands and businesses that no longer fit with our strategy, thereby enabling us to focus even more resources and management time on high-growth opportunities.

• Second, simplifying the business further and providing even greater focus on customers and consumers by clustering operations together into what we have termed multi-country organisations – one example being the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg is one example of this.

• And third, generating the fuel we need to grow the business by further reducing costs and overheads, especially in Europe, bringing us closer into line with the best of our industry peers.

This is a big programme of change and we have already taken it a stage further this year by combining our Foods and Home & Personal Care businesses into a single category structure.

This is a natural extension of the successful ‘One Unilever’ programme we have been introducing over recent years, and will provide us with even greater synergies across the business.

Some of these changes involved taking difficult decisions. Any decision that affects the livelihoods of our employees is difficult and they are never taken lightly.

We only make changes of this kind when we are convinced they are central to the long-term health and competitiveness of the business.

And, as always in such situations, our actions are guided by our unyielding respect for the dignity of the individual and the traditions of the company. That will always be the Unilever way.

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The steadily improving performance of the company in recent years is testimony, I believe, to the fact that we have taken the right decisions for Unilever.

These changes are making the business:

• More agile

• More globally-orientated

• More innovative

• More focused on growth priorities

• More competitive in our cost base

• And better able to play to our strengths and utilise our size and scale.

Rather than provide you with a raft of statistics and other data to support these claims, I want to illustrate the effect of Unilever’s change programme through one of last year’s major brand and innovation successes.

I want to tell you the story of , because nothing, I believe, more vividly exemplifies the benefits we are getting from the new Unilever than our entry last year into the highly competitive anti-dandruff market.

Take a look at this short film….

[Film about the global roll-out of Clear Shampoo]

[Clear is] a great product, based on superior technology, rolled out globally and with speed, with one packaging design, one formula, one communication – all of this enabling us to maximise our marketing investment. These are the hallmarks of the new Unilever.

Up against a well-established market leader, and yet winning market share, country by country.

So, ladies and gentlemen, we are in good heart and in good shape. 2007 was a good year for Unilever – we finished it strongly and that performance has continued, I am pleased to say, into 2008.

Last week we announced sales growth in the first quarter of more than 7%, together with an underlying improvement in operating margin.

Once again, growth was broad-based and supported by a steady flow of high-quality innovations, such as the new upside-down roll-on applicator for Rexona, the new Dove Go-Fresh range, Lipton Clear Green Tea, Hellmann’s Olive Oil mayonnaise and the new Magnum Temptations – all just launched and off to a great start in their respective markets.

So, we have made an encouraging start to the year, but we are also very aware that in 2008 we face a very different – and more challenging – business environment.

The costs of raw materials, whether mineral oil, edible oils or dairy products, are rising – and by unprecedented amounts.

At the same time some economies are slowing – most notably the US, but pressures are also building in Europe.

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Despite these challenges, we remain optimistic about the year ahead. The changes we have made have not only given us a leaner organisation and a more resilient business, but also a more agile one, better able to respond quickly to changing market dynamics. This is critical in the fast-changing global economy in which we operate.

We know we have much to do, and that we need to press ahead with our change programme with increased vigour.

But we are confident that 2008 will mark another positive step towards our 2010 goals – consistent growth, at least in line with our markets, and an operating margin in excess of 15%.

Our confidence in the future also derives from two natural advantages:

First, our unrivalled footprint in the fast-growing economies of the developing and emerging world, especially in Asia, but also in Latin America and parts of Africa.

These markets already account for some 44% of Unilever’s business, and that figure is set to rise to over 50% within the next few years.

The potential is enormous.

As these economies continue to grow, and – with them – the desires and expectations of their people, the opportunities for companies serving the needs of aspiring consumers are huge.

And who better to be there waiting than a company whose very history is tied to the continents of Asia and Africa, and which enjoys today a substantial presence in Latin America; a company that has extensive knowledge of local consumers – from India to Indonesia, from Thailand to Turkey – a company that has a proven ability to deliver affordable health, hygiene and food products to populations growing in size, wealth and aspiration.

Your company, ladies and gentlemen.

The second factor that gives us added confidence about the future also goes back to the very origins of the business. The notion of ‘doing well by doing good’ has always been part and parcel of the way Unilever does business.

Today it manifests itself in many ways. The emphasis, more and more, is on how we can make a difference through our individual brands and on those issues that concern people most in the early part of the twenty-first century – not least, of course, the very future of the planet.

One example from last year is typical of the direction in which we are travelling.

Unilever is the world’s largest tea business. With that goes great responsibility, but also great opportunities to do well and do good, particularly when it comes to sustainability, as this short film highlights…

[Film about the sustainable tea farming]

We cannot solve all of the world’s problems. And nor should we try. But where we are in a position to give a lead on behalf of our industry, then we have shown – time and again – that we are both willing and able to do so.

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We did it in the 1990s with fish and the creation of the Marine Stewardship Council, a body which has gone on to become a global authority on sustainable fisheries. We have done it now, as you saw in the film, with tea.

And in the last two weeks we have taken another bold step. At a special May Day summit on climate change, organised by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, I announced our intention to move to 100% certified sustainable palm oil by 2015.

This is a hugely complex issue, one that involves many actors – growers, manufacturers, suppliers, retailers, governments. As Unilever, we have been working on it for a long time. In fact, for many years we have chaired the international body that has been looking for a solution.

And we have made some progress. But not enough. So the time was right, once again, for Unilever to step up and take a lead: to set a target, fix a date and begin the process of bringing all the key players together in order to resolve an issue that, otherwise, has the potential to cause widespread environmental damage to countries as far away as Indonesia and Malaysia.

It won’t be easy. But these challenges never are. The important thing is that we are determined to succeed, and we will.

Before closing, I would just like to thank Michael and all of my colleagues on the Unilever Board for their continuing support and wise counsel throughout the year.

I would also like to echo Michael’s remarks about our outgoing Board Directors. I will focus, of course, on the two who have also been members of my Executive team: Kees van der Graaf and Ralph Kugler.

We have been on an extraordinary journey together over the last few years. As I made clear earlier in my presentation, the improved performance of the company is a direct consequence of the changes we have brought about.

Kees and Ralph can both be very proud of the contributions they have made, and not just in the last few years but over long and distinguished careers with Unilever. We owe them a lot and they depart with our very best wishes for the future.

During 2007 Mike Polk joined the Unilever Executive as President for the Americas; and last year we also welcomed Jim Lawrence to the company and to the Unilever Executive as Chief Financial Officer.

They are both great additions to the team. So is Doug Baillie, who has just joined the Executive as President, Western Europe, having previously been Chief Executive of .

Ladies and gentlemen, in conclusion:

• 2007 was a good year for Unilever – right across the business.

• 2008 promises to be a more turbulent year. But we’ve made a good start and we have positioned the company to respond better to challenging market conditions.

• For these reasons, we remain confident about the future and our ability to go on delivering value to you, our shareholders.

• And, all the while, we remain as committed as ever to doing well by doing good.

Thank you very much.

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