by London – Unilevers Beauty and Wellbegg brands, led by Dove, drove growth in a lackluster first quarter, which is characterized by macroeconomic uncertainty and management conversations, in which Fernando Fernando replaced Hein Schumacher as managing director.
Sales fell by 0.9 percent to 14.8 billion euros in the three months to March 31, but increased by 3 percent. The company said that the decline was mainly due to sales, but also to a worldwide environment worldwide.
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In his quarterly debut update, Fernandez described the performance in the first quarter as “resistant” and said that growth on Unileevers was “increasingly premiere and innovation-managed portfolio in the developed markets”.
He marked “increased global macroeconomic uncertainty” and said that “interventions are present” in some emerging countries to improve growth.
Fernandez, formerly Unilevers Chief Financial Officer, who took over the helm in February to Schumacher, said that the quality of the company’s innovation program “The strong investment behind our brands and our improvement in competitiveness will give us confidence that we will be transferred to our overall annual plans.”
Unilever, he said, was on the right track to deliver the growth of sales of 3 to 5 percent in 2025 due to product innovations and “expected improvements in Indonesia and China in the second half as a result of the decisive measures that we took in both markets”.
He also expects a “modest improvement” to the underlying operating range for the entire year compared to 18.4 percent in 2024 and said that the direct effects of the US tariffs on profitability are expected to be “limited and manageable”.
In the first three months, the “Power Brands” from Unilever, which lowered all product categories in the areas of products, grew by 3 percent.
The strong actors included Dove, Unileever’s largest brand, which grew by more than 8 percent in the first three months. Other top brands were Vaseline, liquid IV and Magnum, which will be part of the new ice division, which will later be listed on the stock exchanges in Amsterdam, London and New York this year.
The divisions of beauty and well -being and personal care rose based on 4.1 percent or 5.1 percent and exceeded domestic care and food.
Vaseline and Dove grew in the double-digit numbers in Beauty and Wellbeing, supported by the rollouts of the Pro-Derma Ceramide range from Vaseline and the body’s series from Dove throughout America. According to Unilever, fluid IV and Nutrafole also delivered double -digit growth.
Prestige Beauty declined the low tendency to slow down on the beauty market. Hourglass and Tatcha continued in the double -digit digites, while Paula’s selection and Dermalogica decreased. The Premium Biotech Hair Care brand K18 recorded strong double -digit growth.
Dove, which is around 40 percent of the sales of the division, grew in personal support in the high settings. Unilever said that growth was through the “continued success and introduction of the serum shower collection of Dove and full body deodorants and supported by its Super Bowl advertising campaign”.
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