Q3 2009 Results Announcement
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2009 THIRD QUARTER AND NINE MONTHS RESULTS CONTINUED GOOD PROGRESS IN VOLUME, MARGIN AND CASH FLOW Third Quarter highlights • Underlying sales growth 3.4%, with volume growth 3.6%. All regions and categories showing positive volumes. • Gross margin up 290 bps from efficiencies and lower costs. • Advertising and promotion spend increased by 130 bps, mainly additional advertising to support innovations and build brands. Overheads up by 90 bps, mainly due to phasing, with full year expected to be down. • Operating margin before RDIs up by 70 bps. • Continued progress on strategic initiatives: o Opening of new Research and Development centre in Shanghai. o Announcement of agreement to acquire the personal care business of Sara Lee. o Disposal of plantations in the Congo and announced sale of stake in JohnsonDiversey. Nine Months Highlights • Underlying sales growth 4.1%, with volumes up 1.4%. Turnover lower by 0.7% after effects of currency movements (-1.7%) and disposals/acquisitions (-3.0%). • Operating margin before RDIs down by 10 bps (including 30 bps of margin dilution from disposals). • Operating profit in the first nine months of 2008 included profits on disposals of €1,579 million pre-tax. • Net cash flow from operating activities €1.6 billion ahead of last year driven by improved working capital. Paul Polman, Chief Executive Officer: “We have seen further good progress across all regions and the majority of countries and categories. Our market shares are responding to stronger innovations, greater consumer value, increased marketing support and better execution. Market conditions remain challenging and in this environment we will continue to increase investment behind our brands and build long-term capabilities in research and development. We are on track towards our objective of restoring volume growth while protecting margins and cash flow for the year as a whole.” Key Financials Third Quarter 2009 (Unaudited, at current rates. Includes non-GAAP Nine Months 2009 measures marked *, see Page 2 for further explanation) 10,201 - 2 % Turnover (€ million) 30,164 - 1 % + 3 % Underlying sales growth* + 4 % 1,494 - 41 % Operating profit (€ million) 4,048 - 29 % 1,715 + 2 % Operating profit before RDIs* (€ million) 4,630 - 1 % 1,117 - 35 % Net profit (€ million) 2,753 - 33 % 1,270 + 4 % Net profit before RDIs* (€ million) 3,184 - 7 % 0.38 - 36 % Earnings per share (€) 0.91 - 34 % 0.43 + 5 % Earnings per share before RDIs* (€) 1.06 - 6 % 5 November 2009 INTERIM MANAGEMENT REPORT FOR NINE MONTHS TO SEPTEMBER 2009 In the following commentary we report underlying sales growth (abbreviated to ‘USG’ or ‘growth’) at constant exchange rates, excluding the effects of acquisitions and disposals. Turnover includes the impact of exchange rates, acquisitions and disposals. Unilever uses ‘constant rate’ and ‘underlying’ measures primarily for internal performance analysis and targeting purposes. We also comment on trends in operating margins before RDIs (restructuring, disposals, and other one-off items). We may also discuss net debt, for which we provide an analysis in the notes to the financial statements. Unilever believes that such measures provide additional information for shareholders on underlying business performance trends. Such measures are not defined under IFRS and are not intended to be a substitute for GAAP measures of turnover, operating margin, profit, EPS and cash flow. Please refer also to notes 2 to 5 to the financial statements. Further information about certain of these measures is available on our website at www.unilever.com/investorrelations OPERATIONAL REVIEW Third Quarter 2009 Nine Months 2009 Turnover USG Volume Price Turnover USG Volume Price € m % % % € m % % % Asia Africa CEE 3,807 5.7 4.4 1.3 11,238 7.7 2.4 5.2 Americas 3,218 3.9 3.8 0.2 9,709 5.2 1.5 3.6 Western Europe 3,176 0.2 2.6 (2.3) 9,217 (1.2) 0.1 (1.2) Unilever Total 10,201 3.4 3.6 (0.2) 30,164 4.1 1.4 2.7 Savoury, dressings & spreads 3,239 (0.1) 9,783 0.9 Ice cream & beverages 2,182 4.0 6,314 4.3 Personal care 3,029 5.2 8,832 4.8 Home care & other 1,751 6.5 5,235 8.7 Unilever Total 10,201 3.4 30,164 4.1 REGIONS All regions showed an improving trend in both volumes and operating margins in the third quarter. There has been a consistent focus on accelerating innovations and great execution, especially in the areas of customer service and on-shelf availability. Savings programmes are delivering strongly and we are seeing the benefits of operating efficiencies and mix improvement on profitability. Pricing has been trending downwards as we come off last year’s record price increases and reflect easing commodity costs and selective actions to improve competitiveness. Asia Africa CEE – Nine months USG +7.7%, Volume +2.4% Volume growth has improved progressively through the three quarters and was particularly strong in Asia. Economic conditions are slowly improving in several key countries but overall growth in consumer demand continues to be slower than in the past. We have established a regional supply chain centre in Singapore, and are progressively rolling out common systems across the region. We have continued to invest in China and Russia as priority markets, with the opening of a new global R&D centre in Shanghai and the completion of the acquisition of Baltimor, the market leader in ketchup in Russia. The operating margin before RDIs was up by 160 bps in the first nine months. The Americas – Nine months USG +5.2%, Volume +1.5% The positive and broad-based momentum continues. Sales in Latin America have grown at 9% in the first nine months with an improving volume trend. North America grew by 2% in the first nine months, with US volume now contributing positively. The third quarter benefited from the integration of Canada into the North American SAP platform which pulled sales forward from the fourth quarter. Our new Customer Insight and Innovation Centre in New Jersey is driving growth and stronger business partnerships. The most recent recognition of this has been the award of ‘Marketing Partner of the Year’ by one of our major US customers. The operating margin before RDIs was up by 70 bps in the first nine months. 2 Western Europe – Nine months USG -1.2%, Volume +0.1% Most countries in Northern Europe showed better volume growth in the third quarter but conditions in Southern Europe remain challenging. Third quarter volume growth of 2.6% was partly flattered by one extra trading day (there will be two less trading days in the fourth quarter). We continued to make good progress on rationalising our supply chain network, investing in more efficient production lines, leveraging our single IT system to drive regional synergies and streamlining overheads. We have announced the agreement to acquire the Personal Care business of Sara Lee which will strengthen our skin cleansing and deodorants categories. The operating margin before RDIs was lower by 260 bps in the first nine months, but with an improving trend in the third quarter. CATEGORIES Across all categories, our global brands focused on developing bigger, better innovations, rolling them out faster to more countries than ever before. We stepped up our marketing investments behind these innovations, with more rigorous pre-testing with consumers and increased media weight. At the same time, we launched new initiatives to develop our markets, build consumption of our categories and convert users from alternative products. Savoury, dressings and spreads – Nine Months USG +0.9% We have continued to roll out Knorr bouillon gel ‘stockpots’, now in eleven countries, and have launched new savoury products into developing and emerging markets, such as new Knorr seasoning powders in South East Asia and Knorr rice seasonings in Latin America. Bertolli extended its pasta sauce range in Western Europe with three new variants while adding three new oven bake frozen meals in the US, offering consumers ‘restaurant quality at home’. In spreads, our market shares in key markets such as Germany and the US responded well to new initiatives including the further roll-out of the ’goodness of margarine’ campaign and the launch of Dorina ‘whipped spreads’. Hellmann’s is benefiting from the launch of ‘double whisked’ light mayonnaise and further roll out of the Hellmann’s ‘real’, ‘free range eggs’ and ’40 calories’ advertising campaigns. Ice cream and beverages – Nine Months USG +4.3% Our tea business continued to grow strongly, driven by Lipton as we rolled out Lipton slimming teas into China and Russia, launched Lipton pyramid tea bags into Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and made good progress with the new range of Lipton teas in the UK. In Latin America, AdeS grew at double digit rates, with the launch of AdeS Light in Argentina and a new AdeS dairy range with improved fortification in Brazil and Mexico. In ice cream, Magnum performed particularly well, with the addition of a new Temptation variant in Europe, the extension of the Temptation range into multi-packs in retail, and the re-launch of the Magnum brand in Brazil. Cornetto innovations included ‘All Black’ in Europe and the extension of the ‘Choco Disc’ to South East Asia. In the US, the launch of a range of super premium Starbucks ice creams is well on track. Personal care – Nine Months USG +4.8% Our personal care category delivered good growth despite weak markets, particularly in the US and Europe. Dove sales picked up with the launch of new shower gels with NutriumMoisture technology in the US, and the introduction of a new ‘Dove for Men +Care’ range in Italy, France, Spain and the Benelux.