Unilever Q4 sales miss expectations

LONDON, Jan 31 (Reuters): Unilever reported lower-than-expected fourth-quarter sales on Thursday, hurt by inflation in Argentina and flat volume growth in developed markets, in its first set of results since new Chief Executive Alan Jope took charge.

The maker of Dove soap and Ben & Jerry's ice cream said fourth-quarter underlying sales rose 2.9 per cent. Analysts, on average, were expecting 3.5 per cent, a consensus forecast supplied by the company showed.

The Anglo-Dutch group, which is working to move on from last year's botched plan to shift its main headquarters to the Netherlands, had said full-year sales growth would be at the bottom end of its three to five per cent forecast range.

Looking ahead, it said it expects 2019 market conditions to remain challenging and forecast underlying sales growth again in the lower half of a three to five per cent range, with continued improvement in underlying operating margin and another year of strong free cash flow.

It said it remained on track for its 2020 goals. In the fourth quarter, Unilever blamed Argentina, which makes up 2.5 per cent of its overall business, for hyperinflation that led prices to spike more than 50 per cent and therefore volume to fall more than 20 per cent in the quarter.

But more broadly, sales volume in the Americas was flat, as pricing growth was offset by volume declines.