Unilever announces a 1.5 billion euro buyback, and its CEO demands more changes

After volumes rose for the first time in ten quarters, Unilever announced a 1.5 billion euro share buyback on Thursday. Despite this, the CEO of the firm stated that overall performance still needed to be improved.

Though the company that makes Hellmann's condiments and Dove soap said that its underlying operating profit for the entire year increased by 60 basis points to 16.7% and that its underlying operating profit increased by 2.6% to 9.9 billion euros, it fell short of analyst forecasts, which were for operating profit to reach 10.4 billion euros and a margin of 16.9%.

Unilever stated that underlying sales growth will fall between its multi-year range of 3% to 5%, and that it anticipates a "modest improvement" in underlying operating margin for the entire year.

According to a consensus supplied by the firm, the massive consumer products major recorded underlying sales growth in the fourth quarter of about 5%, which met analysts' average expectations.

For the first time since the second quarter of 2021, underlying volumes increased by 1.8% and underlying price growth was 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Analysts had predicted a higher gain in sales volumes, but a lower price increase.

According to Unilever, the buyback scheme will get underway in the upcoming quarter.

(Sources: investing.com, reuters.com)