Unilever PLC (UL) Q3 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

For the period ending September 30, 2022

October 31, 2022 4:00 a.m. ET

Prepared Remarks

Questions and Answers

Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Richard Williams - Head, IR

Good morning, and welcome to Unilever's Quarter 3, 2022 Trading Statement. We expect prepared remarks to be around 30 minutes, followed by Q&A of around 30 minutes. All of today's webcast is available live, transcribed on the screen.

First, I'll draw your attention to the disclaimer relating to forward-looking statements and non-GAAP measures.

And with that said, I hand straight over to Alan.

Alan Jope - CEO & Executive Director

Thanks, Richard, and good morning, everybody. Well, this is the first time that we're going to present our performance through the lens of the five business groups. And so we are going to take some time to ensure that the new segmentation is clear as we go through the numbers. I'll give an overview of the quarter and the performance of each of the business groups, and then Graeme will give the details, including a geographic perspective.

Before we start, let me acknowledge my own decision to retire from Unilever at the end of next year. There's going to be time enough to discuss this in more detail on other occasions. For now, it's business as usual, and my team and I are fully focused on the task at hand running this great company.

We've delivered double-digit underlying sales growth in the third quarter, and we're raising our growth outlook for the year despite the obvious challenges of the macroeconomic environment. Growth is, and will remain our overriding priority. And the results demonstrate the resilience of consumer goods as a sector, the strength of our brands and our single-minded focus on operational execution during this period of high inflation, even as we transitioned our operating model in what is a fundamental change for Unilever.

Of course, the growth was price-driven and broad-based with all five Business Groups contributing and volumes continuing to hold up well. The billion Euro-plus brands led the way with standout performances from Hellmann's, OMO, Lux and Rexona. We've continued to invest behind our brands and bring exciting product innovation across the price spectrum.

We're adding premium offerings and, at the same time, providing great-quality, value-priced products that serve consumers with limited budgets. The new Unilever organization is in place and is already increasing the clock speed of the company and sharpening key decisions and choices across the business. It is still early days and we have much still to do, but we're seeing strong signs of the benefits with many examples to share.