LONDON-- Unilever PLC said weakening demand in emerging markets,
especially China, showed no sign of letting up last year even as
the consumer-goods group reported a rise in full-year profit.
Unilever said on Tuesday that full-year profit rose 6.8% to
EUR5.17 billion ($5.98 billion) despite a 2.7% fall in revenue to
EUR48.4 billion, dragged down by a 20% sales decline in China in
the fourth quarter.
"Growth was weak in emerging markets as economic pressures
impacted consumer demand," Unilever said in a statement. Chief
executive Paul Polman said market conditions were unlikely to
improve in 2015.
Unilever's strategy in the last decade has focused on growth in
emerging markets, where it makes nearly 60% of its sales-compared
with around 40% at biggest rival Procter & Gamble Co.
Mr. Polman in 2009 set an open-ended goal of doubling annual
sales across the company to about $100 billion, with as much as 75%
coming from emerging markets.
But Unilever has struggled in recent quarters as many of the
economies it once relied on for growth have started to stall. China
earlier Tuesday said its economic growth slowed to 7.4% in 2014,
the lowest rate in a quarter century.
Unilever said its underlying sales--a measure that strips out
the impact of sales, acquisitions and currency movements-i-ncreased
5.7% in emerging markets in 2014, down from 8.7% a year
earlier.
Write to Peter Evans at peter.evans@wsj.com
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