Unilever FY13 Profit Rises, Declares Dividend; Stock Up

(RTTNews) - Shares of Unilever Plc (UL, ULVR.L, UN) rose about 5% in the morning trade in London and Amsterdam, after the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant reported higher profit in its fiscal 2013, with good growth in its underlying sales.

Looking forward, Chief Executive Officer Paul Polman said, "we anticipate ongoing volatility in the external environment and are positioning Unilever accordingly. ….. Once again, we remain focused on delivering profitable volume growth ahead of our markets, steady and sustainable core operating margin improvement and strong cash flow."

For the full year, pre-tax profit grew 9 percent to 7.11 billion euros from last year's 6.53 billion euros. The prior year results have been restated for the revisions to IAS 19.

Net profit attributable to shareholders' equity rose 9 percent year-on-year to 5.26 billion euros, and earnings per share grew 11 percent to 1.66 euros. The company attributed the growth in earnings to profits on disposal of the Skippy and Wish-Bone brands partly offset by a provision for competition investigations.

Core earnings were 4.61 billion euros or 1.58 euros per share, while last year's earnings per share was 1.53 euros.

In the year, core operating margin grew 40 basis points to 14.1 percent with advertising and promotions margin up 50 basis points. Gross margin increased 110 basis points to 41.2 percent at constant exchange rates.

However, annual turnover fell 3 percent to 49.80 billion euros from 51.32 billion euros, hurt by negative foreign exchange impact of 5.9 percent and net acquisitions & disposals impact of 1.1 percent. Turnover at constant rates rose 3.2 percent, and underlying sales growth was 4.3 percent, with volume increase of 2.5 percent and price increase of 1.8 percent.

For the fourth quarter, sales were 11.8 billion euros, down 6 percent from last year's 12.56 billion euros, with decline in all business segments and regions. Underlying sales growth was 4.1 percent with increase in volume and price.

In the quarter, all segments, except refreshment, recorded good underlying sales growth. Refreshment underlying sales were hurt mainly by ice cream in North America, where the firm continued to see the impact of the withdrawal of some low margin products and high levels of low-priced competition.

In the quarter, emerging markets' underlying sales went up 8.4 percent, while sales in developed markets declined 1.7 percent, with weak European sales. The company said its growth continued to slow in emerging markets due to the impact of economic uncertainty and currency depreciation on consumer demand.

Further, Unilever said its board has declared a quarterly interim dividend of 0.269 euro per Unilever N.V. share and 0.2222 pound per Unilever PLC share. The dividends are payable on March 12, with record date of February 7.

In London, Unilever shares are currently trading at 2,554 pence, up 117 pence or 4.80 percent. In Amsterdam, shares are currently at 30.16 euros, up 1.33 euros or 4.60 percent.