{"id":43494,"date":"2026-05-21T06:38:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T06:38:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/43494\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T06:38:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T06:38:38","slug":"unilever-launches-e1-5bn-buyback-as-margins-improve-after-ice-cream-split","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/43494\/","title":{"rendered":"Unilever launches \u20ac1.5bn buyback as margins improve after ice cream split"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>    <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/9fac72ed39508dedbd67654da72b511d.jpeg\" alt=\"Unilever launches \u20ac1.5bn buyback as margins improve after ice cream split\" loading=\"eager\" height=\"546\" width=\"960\" class=\"yf-lglytj  loaded\"\/> Unilever launches \u20ac1.5bn buyback as margins improve after ice cream split Proactive uses images sourced from Shutterstock      <\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\"><a href=\"https:\/\/finance.yahoo.com\/quote\/ULVR.l\" data-ylk=\"slk:Unilever PLC;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Unilever PLC&quot;}\" class=\"link \" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Unilever PLC<\/a>\u00a0has served up a \u20ac1.5 billion share buyback\u00a0as the consumer good group reported improved sales momentum and expanding profit margins in 2025 after it spun off its ice cream arm.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">The owner of brands ranging from Marmite, Hellmans and Pot Noodle to Persil, Dove and\u00a0Lynx posted results showing underlying sales growth was 3.5% for the year, with volumes up 1.5%. This was thanks to a stronger\u00a0fourth quarter, where USG rose 4.2% and volumes 2.1%.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Statutory turnover fell 3.8% over the year to \u20ac50.5 billion, reflecting a 5.9% currency headwind and a 1.2% impact from other smaller disposals. This excludes the impact of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/finance.yahoo.com\/quote\/MICC\" data-ylk=\"slk:Magnum Ice Cream;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Magnum Ice Cream&quot;}\" class=\"link \" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Magnum Ice Cream<\/a>\u00a0split.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Underlying operating profit fell 1.1% to \u20ac10.1 billion, even though underlying operating margin widened by 60 basis points to 20.0%, driven by tighter overhead control.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Underlying earnings per share increased 0.7% to \u20ac3.08, while diluted earnings per share rose 6.2% to \u20ac2.59.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Free cash flow was \u20ac5.9 billion, down \u20ac0.4 billion mainly due to demerger costs. The quarterly dividend was set at \u20ac0.4664 per share, up 3%.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Chief executive Fernando Fernandez said: \u201cIn 2025 we became a simpler, sharper, and faster Unilever, delivering our commitment to volume growth, positive mix and strong gross margin.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">For 2026, the group expects underlying sales growth of between 4% and 6%, with at least 2% volume growth, and a modest margin improvement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unilever launches \u20ac1.5bn buyback as margins improve after ice cream split Proactive uses images sourced from Shutterstock Unilever&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[20694],"tags":[7920,20951,22033,5764,22034,21054,12213,21055],"class_list":["post-43494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-unilever","tag-earnings-per-share","tag-fernando-fernandez","tag-ice-cream","tag-operating-margin","tag-profit-margins","tag-share-buyback","tag-unilever","tag-volume-growth"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116611193866748496","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}