Unilever (NYSE:UN) announced their 2017 full year results, reporting an increase in the net profit by 16.9 percent to €6.5 billion and showing the company is in track to meet their 2020 goals.
The company said turnover increased 1.9% in 2017 to €53.7 billion compared to €52.71 billion in 2016, as expected by analysts. Free cash flow was up €0.6 billion to €5.4 billion, including a one-off payment of €0.6 billion to pension funds.
Despite 2017 was a year of change, after the implementation of the ‘Connected 4 Growth’ programme announced in 2016, the company has seen strong improvement. Underlying earnings per share were up 10.7 percent.
“We have delivered a good all-round performance with competitive growth, including an innovation-led improvement in volumes in the fourth quarter, and substantially increased margin, earnings and cash flow,” said Paul Polman, Unilever’s CEO.
The British-Dutch company employs about 169,000 people around the world and owns more than 400 brands in food and cosmetics including Dove, Knorr, Marmite, Ben&Jerry’s.
Last February 2017, Unilever rejected Kraft Heinz takeover bid of $143 billion. The company felt their assets were being undervalued.
The company said then: “Unilever rejected the proposal as it sees no merit, either financial or strategic, for Unilever’s shareholders. Unilever does not see the basis for any further discussions.”
Since the merge attempt Unilever has been trying to show its shareholders that they are better off without Kraft Heinz. Underlying sales reflected a growth by 3.5%.
For 2018 the food and consumer giant will maintain strong delivery in their savings programmes and are planning to complete the integration of Foods & Refreshment.
“We expect this will translate into another year of underlying sales growth in the 3% – 5% range, and an improvement in underlying operating margin and cash flow, that keeps us on track for the 2020 targets,” concluded the CEO.
The next quarterly dividend paid in March 2018 will be €0.3585 per share.