World’s third largest food and consumer goods
group increases sales but reduces profit
According to corporate information released on
August 6, in the second quarter of 2009, the
Anglo-Dutch group increased its sales by 4.1
percent, but as it reduced its sales margins,
its net profits fell by 17 percent, while income
grew by one percent.
As for the first half of the year, Unilever
reports
that its net profit in the semester stood at 1.6
billion euros, 31 percent
less than the same period of 2008.
Between January and June it had a turnover of
19.96 billion euros and its sales volume grew by
0.2 percent, according to the company’s report
filed with the London Stock Exchange.
The group, which employs more than 174,000
people worldwide, improved its figures in the
second quarter, compensating the drop suffered
over the first three months of 2009, when net
profit fell by 45 percent. Its sales volume went
up 2 percent in the second quarter, countering
the 1.8 percent drop in sales registered between
January and March 2009. Operating profit for the
first semester of the year was 2.6 billion euros.