Unilever and Danone volumes up and beat Q3 financial expectations

24-Oct-2024 - Last updated on 24-Oct-2024 at 09:11 GMT

Sales up for Unilever in a difficult consumer goods market. Image/Unilever

Powerhouses Unilever and Danone have outpaced third-quarter financial forecasts, a result of increased volume sales, and in contrast to competitor Nestlé’s downgrade earlier this month.

Both international FMCG giants outstripped their financial forecasts in an unfavourable and challenging market that led Nestlé only last week to make its second full-year financial downgrade due to weaker consumer demand.

Unilever third-quarter financial results

In the FTSE 100 company’s largest quarterly sales volume uptick in almost four years, Unilever upped sales 4.5% and volumes 3.6%. The boost, however, was driven mostly by its non-food divisions.

The Marmite and Hellmann’s brand owner’s revenues were down 2.8% to €15.2bn, however, impacted by currency and with 1.5% accounted to net disposals.

Food sales grew 1.5%, with volume up 0.4%. Ice cream, however, rocketed 9.8% in value and 6.7% in volume, with 2.9% of the value uptick coming from price increases.

Despite a sales bump, Unilever’s full year outlook remained unchanged and the business expected growth to sit within a range of 3-5% – with volumes, not price, driving this.

Unilever’s positive financials comes over a year after CEO Hein Schumacher joined, vowing to transform the business, followed by the shock decision to separate the ice cream division from the main brand earlier this year.

Unilever ice cream business

Schumacher also promised investors €1.2bn of NPD platforms within the next three years, saying the business was taking 12 big and long-term innovation bets to further bolster its bottom line.

“We are still in the early stages of transforming our performance as we execute the Growth Action Plan at pace – focused on doing fewer things, better and with greater impact,” said Schumacher.

The business was beginning to see the positives of the strategy turnaround, as well as brand investment and the decisive actions it had taken in a challenging market.

“As part of the group’s overall transformation, we are implementing a comprehensive productivity programme and the separation of [the] ice cream [business], both of which are progressing as planned.”

A “legal entity” was being set up for the ice cream business, along with a standalone operational model and financials.

Unilever Q3 2024 in figures:

0.9% – Underlying price growth for the period
5.4% – Underlying sales growth from power brands
4.3% – Power brands’ volume growth
1.3% – Volume growth of other brands
€15.2bn – Unilever’s turnover
21% – Beauty’s turnover contribution
22% – Personal care’s turnover contribution
20% – Home care’s turnover contribution
21% – Nutrition’s turnover contribution
16% – Ice cream’s turnover contribution

Danone third-quarter financial results

Activia yogurt and Evian water brand owner, Danone, also exceeded Q3 sales through increased volumes, and confirmed full-year financials were on track as a result.

Sales were up 4.2% – slightly up on analysts’ 3.75% predictions – with volumes up 3.6%, despite predictions of +2.9%.

While all territories saw third-quarter sales up, both like-for-like and year on year, Europe’s uptick was the least impressive at 1.4% for the quarter, compared with China, North Asia & Oceanic at 8% – the highest.

Danone's Q3 2024 water sales

Water carried most of the sales rise within Europe for the quarter, at +4.3% compared to flat specialised nutrition and EDP sales.

“We continue to deliver broad-based quality growth, with both volume/mix and price positive in all categories,” said CEO Antoine de Saint-Affrique.

“Our consistent focus on science-based and consumer and patient-centric innovation, combined with strong in-market execution keeps paying off, as demonstrated by the continued good performance of our winning platforms.”

The CEO nodded to the difficult market condition, stating the business would continue to leverage its business fundamentals to continue driving growth.