Unilever N.V.
Unilever N.V.: Fourth Quarter and Annual Results 2005
Ad hoc announcement transmitted by DGAP – a company of EquityStory AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
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Fourth QUARTER and annual RESULTS 2005
Unilever enters 2006 in much better shape, with increased competitiveness
and growth.
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
(unaudited)
Fourth Quarter € million Full Year
2005 2004 2005 2004
Current Current Current Current Current Constant
Continuing operations:
10 081 9 755 Turnover 39 672 38 566 3% 2%
1 063 (288) Operating profit/ 5 314 4 239 25% 24%
(loss)
916 (398) Pre-tax profit/(loss) 4 751 3 704 28% 27%
726 (124) Net profit from 3 502 2 894 21% 20%
continuing operations
Total operations:
0.71 (0.16) EPS NV (Euros) 3.88 2.83 37% 35%
10.68 (2.33) EPS PLC (Euro cents) 58.17 42.46 37% 35%
KEY FEATURES OF THE YEAR
Underlying sales up 3.1%, improving trend throughout the year and a strong
fourth quarter.
Market shares stable overall.
Earnings per share up 37%, with 22% from continuing operations, benefiting
from lower restructuring, disposal and impairment charges.
Increased investment behind growth priorities, including additional €500
million advertising and promotions.
Operating margin at 13.4%. Productivity improvements and better mix more
than offset higher input costs.
Share buy-back programme of €500 million completed. Proposed final
dividend of €1.32 per NV ordinary share and 13.54p per PLC ordinary share,
raising the total dividend per share by 5% for NV and by 6% for PLC.
FROZEN FOODS
Previously announced review completed. Majority of European frozen foods
to be sold.
CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S COMMENT AND OUTLOOK
2005 was a year of change and investment in the business. The priority was
to restore competitiveness and to grow our top line. We made good progress
on both, stabilising our market shares and improving growth through the
year.
We have refocused and simplified the organisation, and increased investment
behind our growth priorities. We have sold our fragrance business and
announced today the planned sale of most of the frozen foods business. Our
savings programmes are delivering well and have been successful in
containing the impact of higher input costs.
We have seen a return to strong growth in personal care and in developing
and emerging markets. Performance in Europe improved compared with last
year, especially in Foods. There was some pick up in the fourth quarter,
but there is still work to do to return Europe to full competitiveness and
growth. This will be a key priority for 2006.
The manner in which we ended 2005 gives me confidence as we enter 2006.
Unilever is a simpler and more agile business, more responsive to customer
and consumer needs, with a clear value creation agenda.
OUTLOOK
For 2006, our priorities are to sustain our top-line growth and improve our
margins. We expect a sustained flow of savings from our current
programmes, and a progressively more favourable pricing and commodity cost
environment. We will continue to invest competitively behind our growth
priorities and expect an increase in operating margin from the 13.4% of
2005. In 2006 we plan restructuring costs of around one percent of sales,
at the top end of our long term guidance.
We are on track to deliver our targeted savings from the ‘One Unilever’
programme of €0.7 billion by the end of 2006, and see scope to increase
this to €1 billion by the end of 2007.
Looking further ahead, I remain confident that we can deliver our value
creation objectives to 2010.
Patrick Cescau
Group Chief Executive
9 February 2006
(c)DGAP 09.02.2006
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language: English
emitter: Unilever N.V.
Weena 455
3013 AL Rotterdam Niederlande
phone: +31 (0)10 217 4000
fax: +31 (0)10 217 4798
email: joanne.mcdonald@unilever.com
WWW: www.unilever.com
ISIN: NL0000009348
WKN: 860028
indexes:
stockmarkets: Amtlicher Markt in Frankfurt; Freiverkehr in Berlin-Bremen,
Hannover, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, München, Stuttgart
End of News DGAP News-Service
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