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Unilever Keith Weed

Unilever increased advertising spend by €460m while growing net profit by 9% in 2013

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By Stephen Lepitak, -

January 21, 2014 | 2 min read

Unilever increased its advertising spend by €460m during 2013 the company has revealed within its annual figures, having recorded and 9 per cent net profit growth to €5.3bn.

The multinational consumer goods company saw its turnover decline by 3 per cent during the year to €49.8bn for 2013, although its underlying sales growth increased by 4.3 per cent.

Paul Polman: CEO of Unilever, said that 2013 showed progress when it came to Unilever's advancement in becoming a sustainable growth company.

"We have delivered another year of consistent underlying sales growth and margin expansion coupled with strong cash flow. This has been achieved despite significant economic headwinds and highly competitive markets and reflects the benefits of strong margin accretive innovations and active cost management," he stated, adding that the company anticipated "ongoing volatility" and was planning to position the company accordingly.

"Although the investments we have made over the last five years ensure that we are well placed, we are determined to make Unilever even more agile and to fund further growth opportunities by driving out complexity and cost," he continued.

"Once again, we remain focused on delivering profitable volume growth ahead of our markets, steady and sustainable core operating margin improvement and strong cash flow."

Last month, Unilever announced its strategy to cut its individual products by 30 per cent,and a 12 per cent cull within its marketing divisions, which is expected to see 800 roles lost as a result.

Chief marketing officer Keith Weed also revealed plans to Weed also highlighted plans to grow the number of billion Euro brands that the company owned from 11 to 15, including Knorr, Magnum, Lux, Dove, Surf, Axe and Hellman’s.

Unilever Keith Weed

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