Unilever Sales Rise 12 percent in Jan-Mar Quarter

Bangalore: Consumer goods giant Unilever reported 12 percent growth in total sales to 12.14 billion pounds ($19.65 billion) in the first quarter of 2012, driven by strong sales in emerging markets, including India. The entity had total sales of 10.85 billion pounds in January-March of 2011, Unilever said in a statement. "The first quarter results reflect solid performance in challenging market conditions," the company said. "Despite sluggish economies, weak consumer confidence in many markets and sustained levels of competitive intensity, all of our categories grew strongly with a positive contribution from volume," it added. Emerging markets, which now hold 56 percent of the total market share of Unilever, registered sales growth of 11.9 percent to 6.7 billion pounds, while developed markets were up 4.2 percent to 5.44 billion pounds. "Strong growth, ahead of our markets, was driven by good erformances in Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia and Turkey," the company said. Unilever, which sells consumer brands such as Lifebuoy, Sunlight, Pond's, Lipton, Knorr, Dove and Axe, said that the company's performance is pleasing given struggling economies, continued fragile consumer confidence and competitor activity. The company's underlying sales, excluding acquisitions, disposals and currency movements, climbed 8.4 percent from year-earlier to 12.14 billion pounds during the quarter under review. Unilever posted a volume growth of 3.5 percent and price increase of 4.7 percent in the first quarter of 2012. In terms of segments, personal care segment earned a sale of 4.26 billion pounds on account of Lifebuoy's market campaign in India. In addition, Unilever registered sales of 3.56 billion pounds from food segment, sales from home care operations was 2.19 billion pounds and refreshment's sales were at 2.11 billion pounds.