Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Unilever, the world’s second-largest consumer-products company, said it’s “inappropriate” to forecast the next two years as the global economy slows, and reported a 58 percent gain in fourth-quarter profit.
Net income for the period was 1.14 billion euros ($1.46 billion), or 39 cents a share, up from 721 million euros, or 24 cents, a year earlier, the Rotterdam-and London-based company said today in a Regulatory News Service statement. The median estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News was 876 million euros. Sales rose 4 percent to 10.5 billion euros.
Chief Executive Officer Paul Polman, who is a month into the job, faces a global recession that has caused rivals Procter & Gamble Co. and Kimberly-Clark Corp. to miss sales forecasts. The maker of Lipton tea and Magnum ice creams has raised prices for margarines and soaps in Asian and African countries, just as Europeans reach for cheaper private label products.
“Given the current economic uncertainty I believe it would be inappropriate at this stage to provide an outlook specifically for 2009 or to reaffirm the 2010 targets,” Polman said in the statement.
Sales, excluding purchases and currency swings, increased 7.3 percent, slowing from the previous quarter’s 8.3 percent growth.
The company’s shares fell 26.5 cents, or 1.5 percent, to 17.17 euros in Amsterdam trading yesterday.
“Unilever has to cut costs even more and invest in new products to compete with private labels in Europe,” said Ton van Ooijen, an analyst at Kepler in Amsterdam. “Long-term growth can be found in the emerging markets, especially in Asia.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Jeroen Molenaar in Amsterdam jmolenaar1@bloomberg.net.
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