Unilever PLC (NYSE:UL) Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call February 8, 2024 3:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Hein Schumacher - CEO & Director
Fernando Fernandez - CFO & Director
Conference Call Participants
Thomas Sykes - Deutsche Bank
Guillaume Delmas - UBS
Warren Ackerman - Barclays Bank
Jean-Olivier Nicolai - Goldman Sachs Group
Jeffrey Stent - BNP Paribas Exane
Sarah Simon - Morgan Stanley
Bruno Monteyne - Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.
Fulvio Cazzol - Berenberg
David Hayes - Jefferies
Karel Zoete - Kepler Cheuvreux
Celine Pannuti - JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Hein Schumacher
Good morning, and welcome to Unilever's Full Year Results. I'm delighted to be here today with our new Chief Financial Officer, Fernando Fernandez, who, as you know, took over the role on the 1st of January.
Fernando may be new to the role but not, of course, to Unilever, having previously served as President of our Beauty & Wellbeing business group, and before that, as head of Unilever's business in Latin America.
We expect prepared remarks to be around 45 minutes, followed by Q&A of around 30 minutes. And all of today's webcast is available live, transcribed on the screen.
This is how we will run today. In a moment, Fernando will take you through the details of the results and our outlook. I will then give an update of our progress against our Growth Action Plan before we take your questions.
First, though, let me try to frame today's announcement with a few overall reflections of my own. The results and our performance for last year give some cause for assurance, the strength and the resilience of the business are clear, but not enough cause for comfort. There are some real gaps that we need to close. Most of all, however, they reaffirm the importance and the relevance of the measures we are taking now at pace to accelerate Unilever's growth and to step up the quality and the consistency of our performance.
Those measures were set out in the Growth Action Plan I shared with you at the end of October. But given its importance, I want to devote most of my remarks today to the plan and how we are implementing it.
First, though, let me highlight five important shifts that we have already made, some of which are reflected in the results we are sharing with you today. First, we returned to positive volume growth of 1.8% in Q4 and gross margin expansion of 330 basis points in the second half. Second, we tightened grip on operations and working capital leading to strong free cash flow. Third, we stepped up brand and marketing investment focused on the 30 Power Brands. Fourth, we made significant changes in our Ice Cream business to address underperformance. And fifth, we accelerated portfolio change with the acquisition of the premium hair care brand, K18, and the disposal in the value segment of Elida Beauty.