Consumer goods giant Unilever, nudged up its 2007 sales forecast after a strong second quarter and said it planned to speed up its recovery by selling off slower growth businesses and making more cost savings.
The world’s third-biggest consumer goods group, which makes Sunsilk shampoo, Dove soap and Knorr soups, said on Thursday it now expected underlying sales growth at the upper end of its 3-5 percent target range after a 5.8 percent increase in the second quarter.
The rise for April-June beat analysts’ forecasts for growth of between 4.2 per cent to 5.5 per cent and was driven by strong sales of personal care, tea and household cleaning products.
Unilever also posted a 15 percent rise in earnings from continuing operations to 0.38 euros a share, in the top half of analysts forecasts of 0.32 to 0.40 euros, and unveiled a raft of measures aimed at further improving its performance.
The firm said it would step up innovation, particularly in personal care products, sell off over 2 billion euros ($2.7 billion) of turnover from slower growing businesses, including its North American laundry operation and seek to reduce its cost base by about 1.5 billion euros a year by 2010.
Shares in Unilever, whose sales growth has lagged rivals such as food group Nestle (NESN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research) and Procter & Gamble (PG.N: Quote, Profile, Research) in recent years, closed at 1,504 pence on Wednesday, valuing the firm at 20 billion pounds ($41 billion).