{"id":91834,"date":"2026-07-28T09:11:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T09:11:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/91834\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T09:11:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T09:11:24","slug":"unilever-power-brands-dove-vaseline-drive-strong-growth-in-first-half","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/91834\/","title":{"rendered":"Unilever Power Brands Dove, Vaseline Drive Strong Growth in First Half"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tLONDON<\/a> \u2013 Double-digit growth at beauty \u201cpower brands\u201d Dove<\/a>, Sunsilk and Vaseline helped to drive Unilever\u2019s<\/a> underlying sales up nearly 5 percent in the first half to 25.6 billion euros, with overall growth accelerating in the second quarter.<\/p>\n

\n\tSales in Unilever\u2019s beauty and wellbeing division were up 5.9 percent to 6.5 billion euros on the back of double-digit growth at Dove<\/a>, Sunsilk and Vaseline and strong performance at the prestige beauty brands, which include Dermalogica<\/a>, Paula\u2019s Choice and Tatcha.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe company said the wellbeing brands saw \u201clow-single digit\u201d growth with an acceleration in the second quarter. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe personal care division, anchored by Dove<\/a>, grew 4.8 percent in the six months to 6.8 billion euros. <\/p>\n

\n\tOperating profit rose 2.6 percent to 4.9 billion euros on a reported basis, reflecting operational performance and lower restructuring costs, the company said.<\/p>\n

\n\tUnilever added that its 800 million euros productivity program, launched in 2024 to simplify the business and remove overheads related to the now-divested ice cream division, was completed ahead of schedule.<\/p>\n

\n\tChief executive officer Fernando Fernandez<\/a> said the consumer giant saw \u201cstrong\u201d volume-led performance in the first half, with a \u201csignificant step-up\u201d in the second quarter, the best quarter, by volume, in more than a decade.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe added that all business groups delivered volume-led growth, while emerging markets showed momentum, and India, Indonesia and Latin America delivered strong contributions. North America once again outperformed although Europe remained soft with a 0.9 percent decrease in underlying sales, driven by \u201csoft\u201d markets.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tVaseline serum-lotions which aim to brighten the skin.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThese results show our ability to continue performing while transforming our portfolio. Our brands are stronger, our execution is sharper and we are driving desire at scale,\u201d he said, adding that Unilever\u2019s proposed merger of its foods division with the U.S. giant McCormick & Co. is \u201cprogressing well, and will unlock significant value.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs reported, Unilever is working towards becoming a pure-play home and personal care company, following the spin-off of its ice cream division and the proposed sale of foods.<\/p>\n

\n\tFernandez added that while the macroeconomic environment remains uncertain, \u201cour consistency, discipline and strong first-half performance give us confidence that we are well positioned to deliver our upgraded full year outlook.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFollowing the strong first half performance in the first half, Unilever has upgraded its 2026 outlook. <\/p>\n

\n\tIt expects underlying sales growth in the second half to range from 4-5 percent, with a \u201cmodest improvement\u201d in underlying operating margin for full year 2026 versus 20 percent in 2025.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s been a big year so far for Unilever, which was the official personal care sponsor of the FIFA World Cup in its bid to convert \u201ccultural moments\u201d into sales growth. The brand was also the most awarded advertiser at Cannes Lions in June, winning 35 prizes for its advertising and marketing initiatives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON \u2013 Double-digit growth at beauty \u201cpower brands\u201d Dove, Sunsilk and Vaseline helped to drive Unilever\u2019s underlying sales…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91835,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[20694],"tags":[39222,26722,20951,27,12213],"class_list":["post-91834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-unilever","tag-business-insights","tag-dove","tag-fernando-fernandez","tag-london","tag-unilever"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116996832275898210","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91834","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=91834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}