Unilever H1 Profit Down, Turnover Edges Up; Sees Flat Underlying Operating Margin In FY21

(RTTNews) - Consumer goods giant Unilever plc. (UN, ULVR.L, UL) reported Thursday that its first-half net profit attributable to shareholders' equity fell 5 percent to 3.12 billion euros from last year's $3.28 billion euros. Earnings per share decreased 5 percent to 1.19 euros from 1.25 euros last year.

Underlying profit attributable was 3.49 billion euros, compared to 3.56 billion euros last year. Underlying earnings per share decreased 2 percent.

Constant underlying earnings per share increased by 4.3 percent.

Turnover edged up 0.3 percent to 25.79 billion euros from 25.71 billion euros last year. Underlying sales growth was 5.4 percent, with 4.0 percent volume and 1.3 percent price.

In the second quarter, Unilever's sales were 13.5 billion euros, up from 5 percent.

Further, the company announced quarterly shareholder dividend of 0.4268 euro per share. The company's share buyback programme of up to 3 billion euros is currently underway.

Looking ahead, Chief Executive Officer Alan Jope said, "Cost volatility and the timing of landing price actions create a higher than normal range of likely year end margin outcomes. We are managing this dynamically and expect to maintain underlying operating margin for 2021 around flat."