Unilever H1 Pre-tax Profit Rises

(RTTNews) - Consumer goods giant Unilever plc. (UN, ULVR.L, UL) reported that its profit before taxation for the first-half of year rose to 4.35 billion euros from 4.33 billion euros in the prior year.

But, profit attributable to shareholders' equity for the period declined to 3.01 billion euros from 3.03 billion euros in the prior year.

Earnings per share increased 3.4% at current rates or 2.3% at constant rates to 1.14 euros from last year. Improvement in underlying earnings per share was partially offset by a credit to acquisitions and disposal related costs recognised in the prior year as a result of early settlement of the contingent consideration for Blueair.

Underlying earnings per share increased by 5.0% to 1.27 euros. The adverse impact of the spreads disposal was offset by the 2018 share buy back programme. Improvement in underlying operating margin and a positive currency impact were partially offset by the adverse finance costs. Underlying earnings per share at constant rates increased by 3.0%.

Turnover for the period decreased 0.9% to 26.13 billion euros from last year's 26.35 billion, while it was down 0.7 percent at constant rates.

For the full year, the company continues to expect underlying sales growth to be in the lower half of multi-year 3-5% range.