Dive Summary:
- On the heels of Unilever's deal to sell Skippy to Hormel, the Anglo-Dutch company is struggling with food sales.
- The Wall Street Journal reports that Unilever's announced 1.3% sales rise, 0.1% volumes declines and 1.4% prices increase for Q4 highlight trends throughout Western European and U.S. markets where consumers are cutting back on groceries and buying supermarket brands more often.
- Though Western Europe and the U.S. are still important to Unilever, more than half of its business now involves developing countries.
From the article:
"... While around a third of Unilever’s top-line comes from food sales, this is lower exposure than European peers Danone BN.FR +1.31% and Nestlé. And just as importantly, it has a bigger exposure to both faster growing categories home and personal care, as well as to the world’s fastest-growing markets like China and Brazil. More than half of the business now comes from developing economies. ..."