Bulletin: Strong Pricing Will Partly Mitigate The Inflation Hit To Unilever's Margins

LONDON (S&P Global Ratings) July 27, 2022--S&P Global Ratings said today that Unilever PLC (A+/Stable/A-1) will continue to limit the effect of high input and operating cost inflation on its margins by increasing prices. Unilever's results for the first half (H1) of 2022 were stronger than our previous expectations, with underlying sales growth of 8.1% in H1, with 9.8% contributed from price increases, offset partly by a volume decline of 1.6%. The global consumer giant reported underlying sales growth across all its reported divisions. Of its three priority markets, the U.S. and India grew strongly, while sales in China were depressed by COVID-19-induced lockdowns in the second quarter. The robust sales performance in H1 has prompted management to raise their

...July 27, 2022 LONDON (S&P Global Ratings) July 27, 2022--S&P Global Ratings said today that Unilever PLC (A+/Stable/A-1) will continue to limit the effect of high input and operating cost inflation on its margins by increasing prices. Unilever's results for the first half (H1) of 2022 were stronger than our previous expectations, with underlying sales growth of 8.1% in H1, with 9.8% contributed from price increases, offset partly by a volume decline of 1.6%. The global consumer giant reported underlying sales growth across all its reported divisions. Of its three priority markets, the U.S. and India grew strongly, while sales in China were depressed by COVID-19-induced lockdowns in the second quarter. The robust sales performance in H1 has prompted management to raise their guidance for underlying sales growth in 2022 to more than 6.5%, driven by price increases with some further pressure on volumes. The projected hit to volumes from higher prices will be somewhat cushioned by Unilever's...

Bulletin