Unilever NV reported Thursday that fourth quarter earnings dropped 27 percent and warned that business conditions will be tough in 2010 due to cautious consumers and aggressive competitors, according to Associated Press.
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Net profit was euro831 million ($1.15 billion), down from euro1.14 billion a year earlier, when Unilever sold Bertolli olive oil to Spain's Grupo SOS for euro630 million. Fourth quarter sales fell 5 percent to euro9.66 billion, also due in part to the Bertolli sale.
Unilever said that fourth quarter operating profit would have risen 4 percent with the impact of disposals and restructuring eliminated. Sales measured on the same basis rose 1.8 percent, with volume growth of around 5 percent outweighing price falls of 3.1 percent.
The company's sales growth in Asia and Africa rose 7.4 percent and are now substantially larger than in either the Americas and Europe. Sales growth in the Americas was 1.2 percent, while sales fell 4.2 percent in Europe.
Unilever's full year net profit was euro3.66 billion, down 33 percent from 2008, on sales of euro39.8 billion, which were down 2 percent.
Personal care products such as Dove soap and Axe deodorants grew 5.3 percent. Laundry and cleaning products such as Surf, Omo and Cif, grew 7.1 percent. Ice cream and beverages such as Ben & Jerry's, Magnum and Lipton tea brands, grew 4 percent. Sales of Klondike bars grew more than 10 percent in the U.S.
Sales of dressings and spreads such as Hellmann's mayonnaise and Knorr soups fell 0.1 percent.
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