Feb 12 (Reuters) - Unilever's fourth-quarter underlying sales growth beat market expectations on Thursday, driven by a strong demand for brands such as Dove and Vaseline, although it warned that
Unilever Forecasts Lower Sales Growth for 2026 Amid Market Slowdown
Unilever's Sales Growth Projections
By Yadarisa Shabong
Impact of Market Conditions
Feb 12 (Reuters) - Unilever warned on Thursday that 2026 sales growth would come in at the bottom end of its forecast range after a slowdown in the U.S. and Europe, even as emerging markets delivered a fourth-quarter sales beat.
Emerging Markets Performance
After spinning off The Magnum Ice Cream Company in December, CEO Fernando Fernandez - who took over in March 2025 - is under pressure to show that Unilever's emphasis on personal care, beauty and wellbeing, which now account for more than half of turnover, is a winning strategy.
Profit Margins and Share Buybacks
The maker of Dove soaps and Hellmann's mayonnaise said it expects 2026 underlying sales growth at the lower end of its 4% to 6% multi-year guidance range due to softer market conditions.
Even so, Unilever said it expects a "modest" improvement to the 20% profit margin reported for 2025 and unveiled a new 1.5 billion euros ($1.8 billion) share buyback programme.
Its shares were down 1% in early trading.
SLOWING U.S. AND EUROPE
Barclays analysts said in a note last month that 2026 would be "the acid test" for Unilever without the distractions of the Magnum Ice Cream spin-off and abrupt CEO change seen in the first half of last year.
Fourth-quarter underlying sales growth beat expectations, coming in at 4.2% versus the 3.9% forecast in a company-compiled poll. Emerging markets such as India, Indonesia and China continued to drive growth.
But there are concerns that emerging markets may not provide enough support if developed-market growth keeps slowing.
In North America, sales growth eased to 2.8% in the quarter, though Unilever said it continued to gain market share. Sales in Europe edged up 0.1%.
Both regions slowed from the third quarter.
Annual underlying operating profit dipped 1.1% to 10.1 billion euros, broadly matching market expectations of 10.12 billion euros.
($1 = 0.8425 euros)
(Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru. Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Mark Potter)
