OVERVIEW

Despite another year of tough economic conditions, 2015 once again saw the delivery of consistent, competitive, profitable and responsible growth, a trend that has now been firmly established at Unilever.

Over my tenure Unilever has undergone significant change. The portfolio strategy has been sharpened and adapted in order to increase Unilever’s presence in faster growing and more profitable segments of the market. Innovations have been made bigger and stronger and many more brands have been introduced successfully into new markets, most recently in 2015 with the launch of Lux in the Philippines.

The step-up in performance that has followed these changes has been founded on a much clearer operating model and a streamlining of the organisational structure, which together have helped to generate the funds for growth while also resulting in significantly higher levels of operational discipline and service delivery. Increased investments have been made in plant, product quality and information technology in order to modernise Unilever’s essential infrastructure and support growth over the longer term.

The introduction of an inspiring mission in 2010 in the form of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan (USLP) has contributed to business success, with Unilever’s Sustainable Living brands growing at a faster rate than the rest of the Group. Employee engagement has also risen steadily since the introduction of the USLP and Unilever is now regularly recognised as one of the world’s most admired and sought-after employers.

The Boards were pleased in 2015 to see Unilever further its commitment to sustainable and equitable growth under the USLP by becoming the first ever company to publish a detailed, stand-alone Human Rights report under the framework set down by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

A key element in the enhanced performance of the Group over this period has been a steady improvement in the strength and depth of Unilever’s senior management. Leadership development, talent management and succession planning have all been prioritised in pursuit of this objective and I have been pleased

throughout my chairmanship to engage the Boards fully and actively in this process. In 2015 we were once again reassured by the robustness of the process and by the pipeline of talent available inside Unilever.

A similar emphasis has been given to the diversity of talent – and in particular to gender balance – again, with great results. The proportion of women occupying management grades now stands at 45% of the total, the highest figure in Unilever’s history and up from 38% just five years ago. I am also proud to say that Unilever continues to lead the way among its peers at Board level, with the proportion of female Non-Executive Directors in 2015 exceeding 50% for the first time.

ENGAGEMENT

Throughout my chairmanship, the Boards have looked to engage fully across the Group and that was the case again in 2015. We were pleased for example to spend time at Unilever’s state-of-the-art R&D facility in Trumbull, US where we saw at first-hand the high-quality innovations being developed for the Personal Care category.

Whilst in the US, a number of Directors also visited Silicon Valley to meet with some of Unilever’s global partners and to see how we are anticipating trends and using technology to better connect with consumers. The Boards also spent time in Brussels engaging with European Union (EU) policy-makers on how to make the EU a more attractive and competitive environment in which to do business.

Over the years I have looked to engage frequently and openly with Unilever’s shareholder base and that was repeated in 2015. I met once again with principal shareholders in Europe and the US and discussed with them issues related to strategy and governance. I was also delighted to visit the Philippines and Singapore as part of Unilever’s annual investor conference, where investors were able to see some of the factors behind the strength and success of Unilever’s operations in South East Asia.

I was also pleased to meet with individual shareholders at our AGMs in April 2015. These were held for the first time at Unilever’s offices in the Netherlands and the UK. Following the success and simplicity of hosting the AGMs in-house, we will use the same venues again this year.

Information on the AGMs can be found within the NV and PLC AGM Notices which will be published in March 2016.

EVALUATION

Following the external Board evaluation in 2014, we used a simplified internal evaluation this year. Whilst we concluded that overall the Boards continue to operate in an effective manner, in this VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world we set the bar even higher for ourselves for 2016 in relation to the knowledge we must acquire as a Board and the risk assessments we must conclude.

Each Board Committee also performed its own self-evaluation again and agreed on areas to enhance its effectiveness further and these are described within each Committee report.

BOARD COMPOSITION AND SUCCESSION

During my tenure as your Chairman, we have sought to find people with relevant skills and experience to make a difference to the Boards’ discussions. Our thorough processes identified three new Non-Executive Directors in 2015 and I was delighted to welcome Nils Andersen, Vittorio Colao and Judith Hartmann during the year. They have further strengthened the digital expertise, financial and industry experience of the Boards. Ann Fudge became the Vice-Chairman and Senior Independent Director following Kees Storm’s retirement at the 2015 AGMs.

LOOKING AHEAD

Even though the tough trading conditions are likely to remain for some time to come, the Boards have full confidence in the strategy Unilever is following and in the high calibre of its executive leadership and management team. The progress Unilever has made over recent years leaves it well placed to go on delivering consistent top and bottom line growth. On behalf of the Boards I would like to thank all of Unilever’s 169,000 employees for their efforts, energy and the successes that you will read about in this Strategic Report.

 

Michael Treschow

Chairman

 

Our leadership in making sustainable living the foundation of our business received resounding vindication from a number of political and social developments on a global scale. Paul Polman, Chief Executive Officer, answers the key questions about 2015.

Q: How would you summarise the year for Unilever?

A: Our long-term ambition is to have consistent, competitive, profitable and responsible growth – year in and year out. This is increasingly difficult in today’s volatile environment, characterised by low growth, geopolitical challenges and the increasing effects of climate change. Despite this, we delivered another year of top and bottom line growth – with solid underlying sales growth of 4.1%. This consistency has been established over the last seven years and is of growing importance to investors looking for consistency in a world of escalating change and increasingly volatile markets.

The further deepening of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan (USLP) in 2015 and its commitment to reducing our environmental footprint and increasing our positive social impact helped to ensure that growth was responsible.

Q: What changes have there been to the external environment that more broadly impact Unilever?

A: Last year saw a heightening of the kind of global challenges that have sadly become all too familiar in recent years. From climate-related disasters to the impact of mass migration, from escalating regional conflicts to the ongoing Eurozone crisis, the world remains a fragile and uncertain place. For a company like ours, operating in more than 190 countries around the world, these issues often place us on the front line in dealing with the consequences, which is why our business model calls on us to be an active contributor in finding solutions.

The trust in business generally to play its part in solving today’s challenges was undermined this year by some high-profile corporate scandals. These remind us of both the need for business models that make a positive contribution to society and of the importance of reporting impacts transparently across the value chain – only that will build trust. These are hallmarks of the USLP, which is serving us well.

On a positive note, the year saw world leaders endorse the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and an

ambitious deal on reducing climate change at COP21 (see page 24). These provide the framework for eradicating poverty and for delivering more sustainable and equitable forms of growth. There is no business case for enduring poverty and this agenda is key to the long-term success of any company. Unilever played an important role in the process leading up to the adoption of these agreements, which align with the USLP and our vision of a fairer world for all.

Q: What went well for Unilever in 2015?

A: Most pleasing was the broad-based nature of our growth – across all major categories, including Foods, which I called out as a priority last year. We are steadily reaping the benefits of having created four global categories – which bring scale to our operations and innovations – and of adopting sharper strategies for each category.

In Personal Care that has meant growing core brands, like Dove and Axe, while further building our very attractive premium business. In Home Care, the focus is on improving profitability in laundry while scaling up our fast-growing household cleaning business. In Refreshment, we committed to increase the cash contribution from ice cream, while accelerating growth in tea. And in Foods, the focus has been on accelerating growth while maintaining a healthy cash flow. Though there is more to do, we made good progress against all these strategic objectives in 2015.

 

We further enhanced our presence in the faster growing premium sectors of the market, both by premiumising our existing portfolio – with initiatives like Dove Advanced Hair Series – and by building a Prestige business in Personal Care with the acquisition of wonderful businesses like Dermalogica, REN, Murad and Kate Somerville. The addition of similarly strong acquisitions in Refreshment – Grom and Talenti – are enabling us to premiumise further our offering in ice cream.

Q: How did this translate into the financial performance of Unilever?

A: Despite operating in soft markets, we sustained our growth momentum throughout the year and underlying sales growth of 4.1% represents a good performance in global markets growing at around 3%.

Our savings and efficiency programmes, combined with the efforts we have made to drive profitability in certain parts of the business, notably Home Care, and our emphasis on more margin-accretive innovations, meant that we ended the year with an improvement in core operating margin of 0.3 percentage points.

Tight control of working capital contributed to a healthy year of cash flow delivery of €4.8 billion, which – combined with the improvement in operating margin – contributed to core earnings per share growth of 14%.

Q: Where do you see the need for most improvement?

A: There are three areas in particular where we need to step up performance next year.

First, with competition coming from all directions and at an ever faster pace, we need to improve our innovation cycle times and ensure we roll out innovations faster and to more markets. To that end, we have set ourselves some challenging objectives on innovation time and organisational agility.

Second, we have many wonderful brands but if they are not where the shopper wants them, when they want them, then our business will suffer. Sharpening our execution with improved distribution, customer service levels and on-shelf availability are urgent priorities.

And, finally, with growth – particularly price growth – set to remain constrained for some time to come, it is even more important that we bear down on all spending areas and ensure that our costs only reflect what the consumer is willing to pay for. We will be rolling out net revenue management and zero-based budgeting across the organisation from 2016 to keep our business competitive and ensure we have the funds to invest behind the many opportunities for growth that still exist.

We have made significant progress in each of these areas over recent years, but it is a mark of how fast the environment is evolving that, to remain agile and effective, we need to step up our efforts once again.

Q: How were you able to further your commitment to sustainable and equitable growth in 2015?

A: The USLP commits us to a total value chain approach and we made further progress, including in driving the efficiency and sustainability of our own operations. We reached a milestone of 1 million tonnes of CO₂ savings from energy in manufacturing – that’s a reduction of 36% since 2008; we have now avoided costs of over €600 million as a result of eco-efficiency savings in our factories and in 2015 our proportion of agricultural raw materials sourced sustainably reached a new high of 60%. While these measures are necessary, they are not sufficient; we have always said that the biggest impact we can have is in driving consumer behaviour change through our Sustainable Living brands, like Dove, Lifebuoy, Ben & Jerry’s and Comfort. In 2015, we announced findings that these purpose-driven brands were growing at twice the rate of the rest of the business.

Sustainable and equitable growth go hand in hand and in 2015 we were pleased to demonstrate our unwavering commitment to equitable growth by being the first company to produce a human rights report using the UN Guiding Principles Reporting Framework. While the report acknowledges that we still have progress to make, we believe that this kind of openness and transparency is a vital part of driving up standards across the board.

 

Q: Unilever has many stakeholders. How did the Group best serve them?

A: We treat our relationship with the many stakeholders we serve – and rely upon – incredibly seriously. We wouldn’t have a healthy and thriving business without them.

Our first priority is to the 2 billion consumers we serve every day with products that make them feel good, look good and get more out of life, and last year we were proud to see Unilever appear as the company with the highest number of brands in the Kantar Top 50 ranking of the World’s Most Chosen Brands.

Our approach to those we work with across the value chain has always been based on collaboration and partnership and we were pleased to take that forward again under our hugely successful Partner to Win programme. We have a broad base of long-term shareholders and they benefited from a Total Shareholder Return of 15.6% in 2015. We also continued to invest heavily in our most important resource – our people – including through measures to further our commitment to gender balance. The number of women among our total population of managers rose to 45% – still short of where we want to be, but among the best record of any company of our size and up significantly over the past five years.

The USLP, as reported elsewhere, and the work of the Unilever Foundation continue to ensure that we not only serve the communities in which we operate but engage fully with them in a spirit of seeking to drive wider societal and environmental benefits.

 

Q: What do you see as the biggest challenge and the biggest opportunity ahead?

A: Next to dealing with the effects of climate change, requiring world leaders to implement the agreements that will enable us to drive sustainable models, the biggest challenge and opportunity we face is the pace of change. Change today is exponential. Driven by advances in technology, whole industry sectors are being disrupted. Companies that have been around for decades can suddenly find themselves obsolete, while – at the other end of the spectrum – relatively young companies are being valued at billions of euros even before they start to generate much in the way of revenue.

For the fast moving consumer goods sector, these changes manifest themselves in a number of ways. They give rise, for example, to much more formidable local competitors. With their agile business models and proximity to consumers, these businesses are gaining share in many markets.

In this environment, the opportunity exists to show that we can continue to develop a portfolio of brands with the right blend of global and local presence, supported by an organisational structure that is resilient enough to withstand shocks and agile enough to respond to rapidly emerging trends.

We are doing just that and made further progress in 2015, including – as I like to put it – by ‘experimenting on the edges’ with different models that sit outside our core business and allow us to trial new approaches. The creation of our new Baking, Cooking and Spreads business is a good example of how we are doing this in a more established part of the business;

while our direct-to-consumer offerings in premium businesses like T2 and Maille, and our Unilever Foundry and the platform it provides to work collaboratively with innovators and entrepreneurs in the technology space, are great examples of how we are tapping into emerging trends.

Q: What is your outlook for 2016?

A: We don’t expect to see any significant or immediate improvement in the overall health of the world economy. It is clear that the economic recovery in the developed markets of Europe and North America will remain slow and protracted, while the slowdown in the emerging markets is likely to continue for some time to come.

For all these reasons, we remain prudent in our approach and single-mindedly focused on building the resilience and the agility of our portfolio and our organisation. We made good progress on these fronts in 2015, which gives me further confidence that we can continue to deliver on our objective of consistent top and bottom line growth, to the benefit of our long-term shareholders and the many others who rely on Unilever. I want to thank them and, above all, our wonderful 169,000 employees, whose dedication, commitment and sense of purpose shone through again in 2015.

 

Paul Polman

Chief Executive Officer

 

The top 25 FMCG companies have combined sales of about €530 billion, competing against each other and an increasingly sophisticated set of local competitors.

CONSUMER CONFIDENCE

Demand for FMCG products is affected by consumer confidence which reflects levels of economic growth.

In broad terms, consumer demand remained weak in 2015, with market growth continuing to be subdued in emerging markets while showing some signs of low-level growth in North America and Europe.

Many emerging markets were hit by local currency devaluations versus the US dollar, driving up the cost of consumer goods faster than wage growth. A number of these economies export commodities and have also been hit by slowing global demand.

In response to devaluations, interest rates in many countries remained relatively high, further squeezing incomes. Brazil, in recession, and Russia were particularly hit.

Stalling economic growth in China undermined the performance of many of its South East Asian trading partners, further weakening local currencies. However, the Chinese de-stocking of 2014 in our markets was not repeated and growth was seen in e-commerce and secondary cities.

European markets were characterised by small amounts of volume growth cancelled out by price deflation. North America achieved modest overall growth of 1%-2% in our markets.

DIGITAL AND E-COMMERCE

The impact of digital technology continues and has now become a mainstream factor determining success in everything from manufacturing to marketing. The industry is rapidly adjusting to consumers operating in a mobile, connected world, albeit through fragmented media – from basic mobile phones and PCs to smartphones, tablets and TVs.

Innovation, particularly in marketing, is a primary concern as people’s media consumption habits change. Digital marketing now drives sales through all customer channels.

E-commerce now commands 2% of industry sales, while in China it is already 5%, driven by the growth in companies such as Alibaba’s Taobao and T-Mall. In the US e-commerce is 2% of sales and in the UK it is around 6%.

Changing digital habits reflect the adoption of consumer technology. In 2000 there were 750 million mobile phones compared with 7 billion today. By 2020 there will be over 30 billion connected devices.

The boom in video – over 400 hours’ worth of video content is uploaded to YouTube every minute – is vitally important in FMCG marketing. Content is shared through social media networks and this forces greater transparency from corporations.

 

  HOUSEHOLDS ARE CHANGING

 

EMERGING SOCIAL TRENDS

FMCG companies are among the first to experience and be affected by today’s rapidly changing tastes, social norms, population shifts and wealth distribution.

The world’s economic centre of gravity is moving to the southern and eastern hemispheres. By 2025 almost half of Fortune 500 global companies will be from emerging markets.

These trends drive urbanisation. In 2010 there were 27 cities of more than 10 million people. By 2030 it is expected that there will be 41. In turn, emerging market consumers are increasingly demanding product standards common in the West where premiumisation is a dominant trend.

The West retains strong economic opportunities but wage growth is stubbornly low and unemployment high, reaching 20% among Eurozone youth. Although bilateral trade deals continue, these conflicting pressures are leading to some signs of protectionism.

The world is getting older with dependency rates rising. Between 2015 and 2050, the proportion of the world’s population aged over 60 will nearly double from 12% to 22% and in China alone there will be 330 million people over the age of 65 by 2050 compared with 110 million today.

At the same time, younger generations of millennials (18 to 34 year-olds) have new expectations, from authenticity and quality of products to standards of corporate behaviour. Their work, shopping, leisure and media habits are radically different.

Such change mirrors social upheaval with societies becoming more complex, accommodating rapidly changing ways of living. In London, 300 languages are spoken and, in the UK as a whole, almost a third of households are single occupancy. Forced and voluntary migration is happening on a scale not seen since World War II.

Other new economic forces are emerging. By 2030, 27% of the world’s 8.3 billion population will be Muslim compared with 23% in 2010. Women are an increasing force for change. In Latin America the labour participation rate for working-age females climbed from 53% in 1992 to 65% two decades later.

But pressures remain. Inequality is widening, with the 80 richest people having a combined wealth equal to the poorest 3.5 billion. The environment is under increasing stress, demanding a greater response from people and companies. The World Health Organization estimates that 7 million people die from air pollution each year. Ice caps are melting at 12% a decade, which means global warming and drought with profound implications for the FMCG sector. With the existing climate change scenario, almost half the world’s population will be living in areas of high water-stress by 2030.

COMPETITION

The FMCG industry is characterised by global competition between large multinational corporations seeking to differentiate themselves in the eyes of consumers while accessing markets through similar channels. Some of the largest FMCG companies competing alongside Unilever include: Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, L’Oréal, Danone, KraftHeinz and Colgate-Palmolive. Many have identified emerging markets as a major growth opportunity in the years to come.

Competition continues unabated. In 2015 one notable trend in certain parts of the FMCG sector, mainly in foods in the slower-growth developed markets, was consolidation often driven by private equity investment activity.

There has also been significant deconstruction and refocusing with competitors selling brand portfolios to achieve efficiency gains.

Local competitors remain a vibrant presence with innovations and consumer offers to rival those of global players. Among customers, the relative decline of supermarkets continues in favour of local and convenience stores, discount chains – often with own label offers – and
e-commerce.

 

PERSONAL CARE

PERSONAL CARE IS HOME TO SOME OF UNILEVER’S LARGEST AND BEST KNOWN BRANDS INCLUDING DOVE, AXE, LUX, REXONA AND SUNSILK, ALL OF WHICH ARE €1 BILLION BRANDS.

It is Unilever’s largest category with turnover of €20.1 billion accounting for 38% of Group turnover and it represents 48% of Group operating profit. Personal Care’s strategic role is to deliver competitive growth through our core brands and a newly created Prestige business, enabled by enhanced profitability to fund further investment.

The category made strong progress towards these strategic goals in 2015. A focus on innovation and strong marketing communications drove core brands’ growth, while the Prestige business has expanded through acquisitions and organic reach. These priorities contributed to a 4.1% underlying sales growth for the category.

Growing core brands was achieved through innovations, geographical expansion of our global brands, and marketing campaigns. In deodorants we launched Dry Spray products across our brands in North America. In oral care we introduced Zendium – a premium toothpaste that boosts the mouth’s natural defences – in France and Italy, extending availability to nine countries. In hair we rolled out Dove Advanced Hair Series globally, and launched the TRESemmé Perfectly
(Un)done collection.

Our brands are supported by marketing initiatives that address the increasingly complex media channels that consumers use, with increased focus on digital. All Things Hair, an online video channel that creates content in partnership with vloggers, is now live in nine markets and has had more than 125 million views since its launch in 2013. We also have a partnership with Vice, the youth media company, through which several Unilever brands support the new women’s channel Broadly.

The category created a new Prestige business and in 2015 it acquired four businesses – Dermalogica, Murad, Kate Somerville and REN. Their brands are present in the high-growth premium skin care segment of the market.

Outside Prestige, we are taking steps to strengthen the performance of our core skin care brands further. Dove launched the Dove DermaSpa range in Europe, bringing spa experience and dermatological care together.

Vaseline has also been the subject of a major initiative through a partnership with Direct Relief. The Vaseline Healing Project embeds the USLP further into our brand activities and provides the medical supplies and local health worker training to support people working in crisis and disaster areas.

In addition to Vaseline, the category has several other Sustainable Living brands, such as Dove, Lifebuoy and Signal, which meet consumers’ demand for responsible business and enjoy stronger, sustainable growth. The Dove Self-Esteem Project has reached more than 19 million young people in 115 countries, encouraging women to develop a positive relationship with the way they look, and to make beauty a source of confidence rather than anxiety.

 

FOODS

FOODS IS A €12.9 BILLION CATEGORY ACCOUNTING FOR 24% OF UNILEVER’S TURNOVER AND 31% OF OPERATING PROFIT.

Our portfolio consists of Knorr, Hellmann’s and Rama, our €1 billion brands, and other well-known global brands such as Becel and Maille.

The category’s strategic role is to accelerate growth while maintaining strong profitability and cash flow. In 2015, focus has been on three priorities: to accelerate growth in emerging markets; to reignite growth in Europe and North America; and to adapt the portfolio to address emerging consumer trends.

The strategy successfully delivered a return to positive underlying sales growth of 1.5% in 2015, with strong performances in savoury and dressings offsetting a further decline in spreads. We also saw continued strong growth by the global Food Solutions business, which services professional hotel, restaurant and catering customers.

Despite some market volatility, emerging markets delivered solid growth of 6.5%, driven by Latin America, India and South East Asia. Emerging markets now account for more than 40% of our sales, up from 33% in 2012, fuelled by double-digit growth in 2015 in some of our local brands, such as Maizena in Brazil, Fruco in Colombia, Kissan in India, Bango in Indonesia and Lady’s Choice in the Philippines.

Although markets in Europe and North America remain challenging overall, savoury, Foods’ largest sub-category, performed strongly, returning to growth in Europe and continuing to grow sales and market share in North America.

Dressings has also experienced broad-based growth in Europe and gained market share in the competitive US market. We benefited from the launch of new products including Hellmann’s with olive oil and Knorr 100% natural Mealmakers, responding to changing consumer preferences and growing demand for more authentic, fresh, natural and sustainably sourced foods.

The spreads business experienced another difficult year. In mélange (mix of margarine and butter), we saw strong growth ahead of the market once more. However, the

market for margarine continued to suffer, influenced by an ongoing decline in the use of spreads, compounded by a reduction in butter prices. In order to respond to this fast-changing market landscape, we have created the Baking, Cooking and Spreads business aimed at accelerating the turnaround of the business in Europe and North America.

Feeding the world sustainably is a major challenge. That is why sustainability remains at the heart of our Foods business. Our main Sustainable Living brands – Knorr, Hellmann’s and Becel/Flora – combine a clear sustainable living purpose with a long-term global growth opportunity through improving nutrition, food safety and an ever more efficient use of resources.

In 2015, Hellmann’s successfully introduced an improved squeeze bottle with new ‘Easy Out’ technology, which significantly reduces food waste, while Knorr launched the Knorr Animal Welfare programme designed to improve standards in sourcing meat ingredients. More than 90% of the vegetables most frequently used in Knorr products are sustainably sourced, already putting us on target to reach 100% by 2020.

 

HOME CARE

HOME CARE IS HOME TO POPULAR BRANDS, SUCH AS OMO AND SURF, OUR €1 BILLION BRANDS, AS WELL AS SUNLIGHT, DOMESTOS, COMFORT AND OUR WATER PURIFICATION BRAND PUREIT.

Home Care had a turnover of €10.2 billion in 2015, accounting for 19% of Unilever’s turnover and 10% of operating profit. The category generates more than 80% of its sales in emerging markets and its strategic role is to grow competitively and step up profitability, while scaling up household care.

In 2015, consistent with its strategic role, the category delivered underlying sales growth of 5.9% and expanded its margins by 1.3 percentage points.

This performance was achieved as a result of sharp focus on three areas.

Firstly, developing innovations to reinforce the core attributes that address consumer needs at a time of rapidly growing urbanisation and rising employment of women. Omo had a global re-launch with an upgraded formulation delivering on the brand promise of faster stain removal. Sunlight’s proposition of five times faster degreasing was the catalyst for another year of consistent and profitable growth.

Secondly, anticipating future trends and innovating accordingly. We saw good success in the Omo range of pre and post-wash fabric cleaning additives and ancillaries launched in Brazil towards the end of 2014. We also launched Comfort Intense in 2015, a super-concentrated fabric conditioner where smaller doses result in improved freshness. The consumer reception has exceeded expectations.

Thirdly, an end-to-end management of profitability. This included a sharp focus on driving internal efficiencies, dramatic simplification and trading up consumers through premium offerings delivering better consumer value.

 

The success of our brands is boosted by their role in delivering the USLP. Through a partnership with UNICEF, for instance, Omo will help to provide 10 million disadvantaged children with access to quality education. In Brazil, the category led a successful education programme to save water in laundry use during one of the country’s worst water shortages, saving a potential 229 billion litres a year (see page 26).

Our Domestos brand continued its efforts to address the sanitation challenge. It committed to finding ways to provide 25 million people with improved access to toilets.

Although the category enjoyed considerable success in 2015, we remain alert to the future challenges on account of rapidly changing consumer habits and behaviours. Continuing to deliver consumer-relevant innovation and maintaining the sharp focus on our cost and simplification agenda will be key to the category delivering on its strategic role in 2016 and beyond.

 

REFRESHMENT

REFRESHMENT IS OUR BEVERAGE AND ICE CREAM CATEGORY WHICH HAD A TURNOVER OF €10.1 BILLION IN 2015.

Our largest brands are Magnum and Heartbrand (Wall’s) and Lipton tea, all of which are €1 billion brands.

The category accounts for 19% of Group turnover and 11% of operating profit and its strategic role is to enhance the Group’s profitable growth momentum through sustained growth in ice cream and growing faster in tea, while stepping up cash flows and return on invested capital.

During 2015 the category was focused on growing its core with margin-enhancing innovations and best-in-class retail execution, both through customers’ stores and through Unilever’s own retail channels, to deliver the ultimate brand experience.

This focus meant Refreshment grew underlying sales by 5.4% with a positive performance across key geographies.

Ice cream delivered very strong growth, increasing its presence in a growing and dynamic sector and helped by successful innovations behind premium brands in Europe and North America. Performance was also helped by good summer weather in Europe.

Innovations included Magnum Pink & Black and the Ben & Jerry’s Cookie Core range. In September 2015 we acquired Grom, a gelato business with 60 stores in Italy and around the world, strengthening our portfolio.

Our success came within the context of considerable consolidation among rivals and the growth of local competition. But our strong portfolio of brands and execution in markets helped us to secure our position and grow competitively.

The year also saw campaigns around sugar-related health issues and we are responding responsibly; 100% of our children’s brands have fewer than 110 calories while, by the end of 2015, 90% of our packaged ice cream products did not exceed 250 calories per portion. We are also reducing sugar in our ready-to-drink tea, consistent with our USLP commitment to help people to achieve a healthier diet.

The category strengthened its place in the premium end of the ice cream business through brands such as Talenti that offer ‘pure, real and authentic’ products, with sustainably sourced ingredients. Early results for Talenti have been promising. Meanwhile, established brands such as Ben & Jerry’s continued to deliver strong business performance while leading the charge on sustainable growth. The brand launched Save Our Swirled – a global campaign attracting 300,000 followers – to help win a strong climate change

agreement at the Paris COP21 conference at the end of 2015 (see page 24).

Beverages had a more challenging year, witnessing modest growth in highly competitive markets with South Asia as a bright spot, in particular India and Pakistan.

The second half of 2015 saw a number of premium innovations coming to market. These included the expansion of our T2 stores, the launch of tea capsules in Europe and the launch in France of T.O. by Lipton, our bespoke in-home tea machine. Another highlight was the launch of the Lipton Speciality Black range and Lipton Green Tea.

Lipton continues its journey as a Sustainable Living brand and after eight years it has reached the milestone of all the tea for its teabags being sourced from Rainforest Alliance certified estates at the end of 2015.

Our retail operations across both ice cream and tea were strengthened by the formation of a global Unilever retail organisation to improve our 1,100 stores from T2 to Ben & Jerry’s Scoop shops. Through our retail customers we also continued with our famous Aisles and Corners of Joy in-store executions.

 

WE NEED TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE FOR THE GOOD OF SOCIETY AND BUSINESS.

2015 proved to be a pivotal year, with groundbreaking global agreements reached on both climate change and development. To realise the ambition ‘zero carbon, zero poverty’ will require the private sector, government and civil society to go beyond ‘business as usual’, working in partnership to achieve change at scale.

In September 2015, the United Nations adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – a roadmap to 2030 that will require concerted action and partnership between governments, civil society and business.

Unilever has been an early leader on the SDGs through both the UN High-level Panel and our engagement with the UN Global Compact LEAD group of sustainability leaders. We also partnered with Global Citizen and Project Everyone, campaigning organisations focused on motivating young people about sustainability, to raise public awareness about the SDGs. As the world looks towards the implementation of the SDGs, we are supporting the recently established Global Commission on Business and Sustainable Development which seeks to work with business leaders across sectors to broaden support for market-based solutions.

World leaders met in Paris in December 2015 for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’s 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21). The result was a historic agreement supported by an unprecedented movement of private sector action. The new legal agreement to tackle climate change is supported by plans from every country to reduce emissions and a range of commitments from companies, investors, cities and regions.

Unilever worked with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), World Economic Forum (WEF), UN Global Compact and We Mean Business Coalition to encourage companies to step up their efforts to address climate change in their own operations. Speaking in Paris at an event hosted by the UN Secretary General and President Hollande of France, our CEO Paul Polman urged business leaders to continue to deliver positive momentum. Unilever led by example and announced ambitious targets to be carbon positive in its own operations by 2030.

The consequences of this agreement go far beyond the actions of governments alone. The impact will be felt in banks, stock exchanges, boardrooms and research centres as the world absorbs the fact that a unique project to decarbonise the global economy has begun.

Previously, in 2014 we identified four areas for action where we want to see sector-wide transformation: eliminating deforestation; sustainable agriculture and improving livelihoods; access to clean drinking water, sanitation and hygiene; and women’s empowerment. Essential to delivering change in these areas are the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan (USLP), which sits at the heart of our business model, our Sustainable Living brands that bring the USLP to life, and global coalitions and partnerships that take it to scale.

ELIMINATING DEFORESTATION

As part of our commitment on climate change, Unilever is working to help end deforestation, which accounts for up to 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions. We have made good progress on our sustainable sourcing and deforestation agendas by working in collaboration with an increasing number of growers, traders, manufacturers and retailers who have all pledged to rid their supply chains of deforestation.

 

In March 2015, we announced that all palm oil bought for our European and Australian food businesses is traceable to certified plantations, a crucial milestone towards our aim of eliminating deforestation.

Going beyond that, our new palm oil processing plant in Sei Mangkei, Indonesia, underwent testing in 2015 and started operations in January 2016. It represents a US$130 million investment and will source palm oil from known and certified sources for our global use.

In addition, we are working with the Climate Policy Institute and IDH in Indonesia to create a long-term landscape management plan to help smallholders sustainably improve their yields and livelihoods.

At the same time, almost all our paper and board across our supply chain came from certified sustainably managed forests or from recycled material by the end of 2015.

CHAMPIONING SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE AND IMPROVING LIVELIHOODS

Our ambition is for sustainable approaches to agriculture to become mainstream and to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. This supports SDG 2 ‘End Hunger’.

Smallholder farmers and family farms produce 70% of the world’s food. Working with these producers is critical for Unilever

as we strive to reach our sustainable sourcing targets and improve the livelihoods of those in our supply chain and surrounding communities. Working in global partnerships, we have identified a number of crops and countries that require targeted, integrated action to improve sustainable agricultural practices, link smallholders to our markets, address food nutrition gaps, improve business skills and provide finance.

In support of this approach, we formed a number of new partnerships. In 2015, Unilever, Acumen and the Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership (CGEP) launched the Enhanced Livelihoods Investment Initiative to improve the livelihoods of as many as 300,000 smallholder communities across Africa, South Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. It is a three-year US$10 million investment plan to spur economic growth by backing private enterprises which link smallholders to Unilever’s global supply chain and distribution networks.

In 2015, Unilever and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) created a Nutrition Intervention Program which aims to improve the health and nutrition of 2.5 million rural people. Its aim is to reach smallholder farmers, from helping them to diversify their diets to providing better information on nutrition.

Addressing hunger is also about reducing food waste. A third of food calories produced are never eaten. To combat this, Unilever helped shape the Consumer Goods Forum pledge, working alongside the World Resources Institute, to halve food waste by 2025 within member company operations, and reduce food waste among consumers and through the supply chain. To help achieve this, we have a new partnership with the Global Foodbank Network allowing us to redirect food that is still fit to be consumed. Also, Unilever is supporting the ‘Champions 12.3’ coalition that seeks to tackle food loss and waste. Our CEO, Paul Polman, is a champion along with other business leaders and representatives from civil society and government.

BETTER HEALTH AND HYGIENE THROUGH HANDWASHING, CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION

We aim to help improve the health and well-being of more than 1 billion people by 2020. As part of this ambition, we are focusing on improving access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene facilities (WASH) which underpin healthy and productive lives.

 

With our global reach, portfolio of WASH-related brands and experience in changing behaviour, we are helping to deliver progress on SDG 6 ‘Ensure sustainable access to water and sanitation for all’ and develop the market solutions which will transform WASH provision. For instance, in 2015 Lifebuoy secured funding from the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) to roll out our Lifebuoy School of Five hygiene education programme in rural Bihar, plus funding from the UK Department for International Development (DFID) to reach children in Bangladesh and Pakistan. These partnerships have committed to reaching almost 10 million children by 2020 with life-saving education about handwashing with soap.

To extend our reach and impact, we have joined with CGEP and DFID to launch a new partnership named Transform. The initiative will identify and fund new social enterprises that help realise the SDGs, initially focusing on bringing innovative WASH solutions to market. Overall, the Transform plan aims to improve the health and well-being of 100 million people by 2025 through job creation, improving incomes and providing support to market-based solutions. We are also deepening our existing partnership. We are in the fourth year of a partnership between Domestos and UNICEF, which helps individuals gain improved access to toilets.

At the same time, in India we have launched ‘Clean India, Clean habits’. This is a mass media, behaviour change programme designed to promote the use of toilets and the importance of handwashing and safe drinking water practices. The initiative aims to reach 75 million people by 2019 in support of the Government’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission).

EMPOWERING WOMEN

Women make up a large number of our consumers and 32% of our workforce, but many still face discrimination and disadvantage globally. There is a strong human rights and business case for helping to reverse this. Empowering women could be one of the biggest levers of transformational change and SDG 5 ‘Gender Equality’ is an enabler across all the SDGs.

According to international advocacy organisation Women Deliver, women re-invest 90% of their income in their families, so including more women in the economic cycle will have a positive impact on growth and the progress of families and communities.

Unilever is committed to improving women’s rights, skills and opportunities. We aim to empower women across our value chain; from smallholder farmers and distributors to consumers. We want to leverage the full Unilever footprint to drive systemic change and achieve gender equality.

Through a range of global partnerships including the CGEP, Population Services

International (PSI), Amsterdam Initiative against Malnutrition (AIM) and Bottom of the Pyramid Institute, we are creating inclusive distribution models empowering women to improve their livelihoods, teaching them basic job skills and driving life-changing behavioural change in their communities.

A specific issue for women in many countries is the burden of collecting water, which takes an estimated 200 million hours a day. Our Sunlight brand, with WaterAid, Oxfam and NextDrop, published a major report in 2015 on the problem. It revealed why the interlinkages between water, sanitation and gender equality must be recognised by governments, civil society and businesses.

We are also supporting the UN Women HeForShe IMPACT 10x10x10 movement which engages 10 key ‘IMPACT champions’ from government, business and academia – including our CEO Paul Polman – to drive change from the top. Each IMPACT champion has pledged to make gender equality an institutional priority, committing to real change within and beyond their organisations.

In summary, the groundbreaking agreements of 2015 set a new climate and development framework that sends a signal to businesses and investors that will drive real change in the global economy. Much more needs to be done but we have now passed a tipping point as the world has recognised that delivering social and environmental benefits will provide a positive opportunity for businesses with purpose to win in the 21st century.

 

PEOPLE PROVIDE THE ESSENTIAL TALENT AND ENERGY TO FULFIL UNILEVER’S AMBITION.

Attracting, developing and retaining the very best people is critical to ensure that we succeed in our vision of accelerating growth in our business while reducing our environmental footprint and increasing our positive social impact.

We rely on our people to deliver against our USLP commitments – a challenge that requires great endeavour, expertise and energy on their part.

The fundamental priorities of our approach to developing our people haven’t changed and underpin everything we do:

 

•

build depth of capability and leadership;

•

live our values and build a performance culture; and

•

build an agile, flexible and diverse organisation.

These priorities are supported by our investment in our people’s well-being and our leading-edge approach to advancing human rights, while we continue to make progress in the diversity and inclusiveness of our workforce.

ATTRACTING TALENT

Our status as the No.1 Graduate Employer of Choice in the FMCG sector among our target universities was maintained in 2015 across 34 countries. This compares to just three in 2009 and 32 in 2014.

This result reflects our digital engagement with students via social media and numerous campus activities. Our flagship initiative is the Future Leaders League – an international competition among universities which send teams to our global event, and which provides the opportunity to interact with our senior management and gain first-hand insights into business and leadership.

Our status reveals our activities are successful in engaging with talented graduates who recognise Unilever as a place that is doing well by doing good and where their career potential can be realised. Our commitment to sustainability is becoming an ever more important reason why people are attracted to Unilever as a career choice.

 

Beyond our own FMCG sector, LinkedIn continues to be a key channel for attracting and engaging external talent. Our relationship with LinkedIn was further enhanced with the launch of LinkedIn Elevate, a new content-sharing platform which allows our people to show the world their Unilever by sharing relevant content across their own social networks.

While we work hard to ensure that we are attracting the right talent, internally we monitor attrition regularly and are committed to providing an environment in which our people can balance work and life in a way that makes sense for them. The overall attrition rate in 2015 was 8.2%, down 0.1 percentage points compared to 2014 (white collar population). At management level the attrition rate was 7.2%, down 0.1 percentage points compared to 2014.

 

ORGANISATION DEVELOPMENT

Previously we have focused on the Fit to Win programme to be leaner and more agile alongside Project Half for Growth to simplify the organisation and our processes.

In 2015 we have focused more on continuous improvement and being equipped to maximise growth opportunities. Importantly, we have looked at addressing organisational design principles as enablers to deliver a leaner structure that is organised in the most efficient and effective way, driving speed and agility.

Growth opportunities have also come through acquisitions and we welcomed several new businesses requiring different support to ensure new colleagues can integrate and benefit from Unilever’s size and scale while ensuring their growth-focused, entrepreneurial cultures are preserved.

Notable acquisitions have included four premium skin care businesses, Dermalogica, Murad, Kate Somerville

and REN, which form our new Prestige business within Personal Care. We also acquired the Camay and Zest brands, and added Grom, the premium gelato business, to our Refreshment category. All in all we welcomed more than 2,300 new employees to the Unilever Group.

Another significant project has been the formation of the Baking, Cooking and Spreads business within the Foods category, which has created a more dedicated, focused organisation to bring greater speed and agility to executing strategy.

HUMAN RIGHTS

Business flourishes in societies where human rights are respected, upheld and advanced. People are our greatest asset and empowering them is not only the right thing to do, but also ensures a sustainable future for Unilever.

To make this a reality, in 2014 Unilever formalised its commitment to respecting human rights as part of the USLP and announced it would implement the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and undertake to report publicly on progress.

To that end we became the first company to adopt the UN Guiding Principles Reporting Framework and in June 2015 we were the first company to produce a detailed, stand-alone report using the Framework entitled Enhancing Livelihoods, Advancing Human Rights.

This is Unilever’s Human Rights Report, which can be read at www.unilever.com/ human-rights-report-2015.

It focuses on Unilever’s eight salient human rights issues – those at risk of the most severe negative impacts through a company’s activities or business relationships.

The report highlights challenges and key areas of progress, including Unilever’s work to empower women, the fight against sexual harassment and how we are addressing health and safety issues across the supply chain. Dialogue, capacity building and, where needed, effective remedy are vital to these efforts.

 

It also describes key areas of focus for the future. Unilever cannot succeed alone and being honest about the challenges is crucial to progress. Therefore we will continue to address human rights issues beyond first-tier suppliers, taking a commodity and geographical focus, and collaborating with other organisations in order to influence systemic change. We will also ensure that we track progress robustly, by building frameworks for improved data collection, verification and analysis.

We want to go beyond respecting to actively promoting human rights, embedding this into every part of our business.

WELL-BEING

Our work to help our people learn and contribute to our growth is underpinned by our Global Well-being programme. Each market has a comprehensive plan which incorporates physical and mental plus emotional and purposeful well-being. In 2015 we built and rolled out internationally our well-being workshop, Thrive, which is available to all. By the end of 2015, 17,000 employees across Unilever in all markets had attended a Well-being programme.

 

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

We believe in a diverse workforce to serve our diverse consumer base. Inclusion is the foundation of a sustainable, strong culture. We want our people to feel confident, comfortable and able to reach their potential regardless of gender, age, ability, background or sexual preference.

Our attitude to diversity and inclusion also reflects our wider values as a Group, which define how we do business and how we interact with our colleagues, partners, customers and consumers. Our four core values are: integrity; responsibility; respect; and being pioneering.

On gender equality we continue to make progress, although work remains. By the end of 2015, 45% of our total management were women, up from 38% in 2010 and 25 countries have reached their gender balance targets for management.

At the most senior levels, however, the ratios are not as high. Among the top 101 executive managers, 23 (23%) were women compared with 18% in 2014. If you include employees who are statutory directors of the corporate entities whose financial information is included in the Group’s 2015 consolidated accounts in this Annual Report and Accounts, the number increases to 536 males and 146 (21%)

females. 50% (six out of 12) of the Board is female, compared with 36% in 2014.

Of our total workforce of 168,921, 114,975 (68%) were male and 53,946 (32%) were female at the end of 2015.

We will continue to work to improve these performance statistics. We are committed to creating opportunities for women and to empowering them in a way that goes beyond our own operations and into our wider stakeholder communities through our supply chain partners – particularly among smallholder farmers.

We have the clearly articulated ambition of empowering 5 million women by 2020 through our USLP, helping women and the communities in which they live and work to improve their livelihoods.

To encourage more women into management, we have partnered with INSEAD since 2013 on the INSEAD-Unilever Women Leadership Program which is delivered at our Four Acres campuses. The role of Four Acres in London and Singapore is to provide the best learning available to ensure that we develop leaders who will play an active role for Unilever and society at large.

 

DEVELOPMENTS IN 2015

In previous years Unilever identified premiumising its portfolio as a key driver of growth. In 2015 we took further decisive action to execute on that priority with the acquisition of several brands, most notably in Personal Care.

We acquired four premium skin care businesses to create a Prestige business within Personal Care with annual turnover approaching €400 million. These deals are accretive to growth, margins and earnings per share.

The largest acquisition, announced in June 2015, is Dermalogica. With a strong international footprint, it is the number one salon skin care brand globally, rooted in skin health treatments. Murad, announced in July, is the first modern ‘doctor’ brand with a mission to provide proven, efficacious products. Founded in 1989 by Howard Murad, a dermatologist, pharmacist and UCLA professor, it has a product range to address a wide variety of skin care concerns.

Earlier, in March 2015, Unilever also announced the acquisition of REN, which pioneered a distinctive high-performance skin care product range now sold in around 50 countries through speciality stores and pharmacies. In May we announced the

acquisition of Kate Somerville Skincare, a niche derma-cosmetic business with a celebrity following in Hollywood, which has made inroads from the US into the fast-growing Asian beauty market.

All four are strong, differentiated brands in a large and growing market for prestige skin care products, which remains highly fragmented. The brands will be run as part of the Prestige business within Personal Care, to preserve the unique prestige expertise, with dedicated marketing and customer development. However, the brands will be able to leverage our consumer insight and research and development resources.

The acquisition of the Prestige skin care brands is a good example of how Unilever uses merger and acquisition activity to help reshape our portfolios towards more attractive segments where we can most effectively apply our global scale and local strengths. We remain alert to opportunities that will progress our strategic priorities while always observing robust financial disciplines in assessing these options. Elsewhere, we acquired Grom to strengthen our ice cream portfolio in our Refreshment category. Grom enjoys a strong position in the premium gelato

 

market and has 60 stores in Italy and around the world. It also shares Unilever’s commitment to sustainable sourcing of raw materials. In Foods, we created Baking, Cooking and Spreads to increase agility and accelerate growth in Europe and North America.

In line with our focus on Personal Care, Unilever was reclassified from Foods to Personal Products by the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) panel. This followed similar reclassifications in 2014 applying to the FTSE and Stoxx indices.

During 2015 we continued our bond issuance programme to raise competitively priced debt capital through both the European and US capital markets. In January 2015 we announced the pricing of a €750 million bond at 0.5% due February 2022. In May we issued €1.25 billion in two tranches due June 2018 and June 2023, while in July we priced a dual tranche US$1 billion bond split equally between a 2.1% fixed rate note due July 2020 and a 3.1% note due July 2025.

We also took the opportunity in 2015 to increase our equity stake in Unilever Nigeria from 50.0% to 58.5%.

 

 

 

 

FINANCIAL OVERVIEW 2015

CONSOLIDATED INCOME STATEMENT

Turnover grew by 10% to €53.3 billion helped by a positive currency impact of 5.9% (2014: negative 4.6%) with a strong boost in the first half of the year due to a weaker euro. Underlying sales growth was 4.1% (2014: 2.9%) balanced between volume growth of 2.1% (2014: 1.0%) and pricing of 1.9% (2014: 1.9%). Acquisitions and disposals had a negative impact of 0.1% (2014: negative 0.9%). Emerging markets contributed 58% of total turnover (2014: 57%) with underlying sales growth of 7.1% (2014: 5.7%) of which 2.7% was volume growth. Currency devaluation continued to push up the cost of living for consumers in many of the emerging markets. Our performance in developed markets was flat with good volume growth in Europe being offset by price deflation.

Core operating margin was up 0.3 percentage points to 14.8%. Gross margin was up 0.8 percentage points to 42.2% driven by margin-accretive innovation, pricing and continued delivery from our savings programmes, which more than offset currency-related cost increases and higher costs on brand and marketing investment. Commodity costs increased by about 4%. While the price of many commodities, such as oil, in US dollars fell during 2015, commodity costs in local currencies increased as devaluing currencies imported inflation into local raw material production. Overheads increased by 0.3 percentage points reflecting an adverse currency translation impact and favourable one-off items in the prior year, such as property sales in India.

Operating profit was down 6% at €7.5 billion compared with €8.0 billion in 2014. This includes a charge of €350 million for non-core items (2014: credit of €960 million including a €1,392 million gain from business disposals).

Highlights for the year ended 31 December

 

		2015				2014				%
										change
Turnover (€ million)			53,272				48,436				10
Operating profit (€ million)			7,515				7,980				(6	)
Core operating profit (€ million)*			7,865				7,020				12
Profit before tax (€ million)			7,220				7,646				(6	)
Net profit (€ million)			5,259				5,515				(5	)
Diluted earnings per share (€)			1.72				1.79				(4	)
Core earnings per share (€)*			1.82				1.61				14

The net cost of financing borrowings was €372 million compared with €383 million in 2014. The average interest rate on net debt improved to 3.0% (2014: 3.5%) largely as a result of higher returns on investments. Pensions financing was a charge of €121 million compared with €94 million in 2014.

The effective tax rate was 27.6% versus 28.2% in 2014 which included €0.8 billion tax relating to business disposals.

Net profit from joint ventures and associates together with other income from non-current investments was €198 million compared with €143 million in 2014. This reflects increased profit on disposal of associates and higher income from joint ventures. At €1.72, diluted EPS was down 4% as the prior year included the profit on business disposals. Core EPS increased by 14% to €1.82, including a favourable currency impact of 3%.

 

 

The independent auditors’ reports issued by KPMG Accountants N.V. and KPMG LLP, on the consolidated results of the Group, as set out in the financial statements, were unqualified and contained no exceptions or emphasis of matter. For more details see pages 85 to 89 of the Governance and Financial Report.

The consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with IFRS. The critical accounting policies and those that are most significant in connection with our financial reporting are set out in note 1 on pages 94 and 95 of the Governance and Financial Report and are consistent with those applied in 2014.

 

 

 

*	Certain measures used in our reporting are not defined under IFRS. For further information about these measures, please refer to the commentary on non-GAAP measures on pages 38 and 39.

 

 

PERSONAL CARE
		2015				2014				%
										Change
Turnover (€ million)			20,074				17,739				13.2
Operating profit (€ million)			3,637				3,259				11.6
Core operating profit (€ million)			3,788				3,325				13.9
Core operating margin (%)			18.9				18.7				0.2
Underlying sales growth (%)			4.1				3.5
Underlying volume growth (%)			2.3				1.2
Effect of price changes (%)			1.8				2.3

KEY DEVELOPMENTS

•

Turnover growth was 13.2% of which 7.6% was currency impact. Underlying sales growth, while still below historical rates, improved to 4.1% compared with 3.5% in 2014. Growth benefited from innovations that boosted the core of our business including the launch of dry spray deodorants in North America, the launch of Lux Luminique in Japan and the roll-out of Dove Advanced Hair Series. 2015 also marked our entry into the prestige skin care business with the acquisitions of Dermalogica, Murad, Kate Somerville and REN.

•

Core operating profit was €463 million higher than the prior year and this includes a €196 million favourable impact from exchange rate movement. Acquisitions and disposal activities contributed €105 million while underlying sales growth and margin improvement added €137 million and €25 million respectively. Operating margin improvement is principally driven by margin-accretive innovation. Gross margin was up 0.5 percentage points and brand and marketing investment was up 13%.

 

HOME CARE
		2015				2014				%
										Change
Turnover (€ million)			10,159				9,164				10.9
Operating profit (€ million)			740				576				28.5
Core operating profit (€ million)			775				579				33.9
Core operating margin (%)			7.6				6.3				1.3
Underlying sales growth (%)			5.9				5.8
Underlying volume growth (%)			4.0				2.4
Effect of price changes (%)			1.9				3.4

KEY DEVELOPMENTS

•

Home Care turnover grew by 10.9% including a 4.5% favourable currency impact. Underlying sales growth was 5.9%, heavily geared toward volume growth which contributed 4.0%. The category delivered broad-based growth including the roll-out of new Omo with enhanced formulation and improved cleaning technology, the success of fabric conditioners helped by the launch of Comfort Intense, and the introduction of Cif to new markets.

•

Core operating profit increased by €196 million including a €22 million increase from exchange rate movement. Underlying sales growth contributed €41 million while improved margin added €133 million. Gross margin was up 2.7 percentage points as a result of improved mix, cost savings and simplification programmes. Brand and marketing investment was up 19%.

 

 

FOODS
		2015				2014				%
										Change
Turnover (€ million)			12,919				12,361				4.5
Operating profit (€ million)			2,298				3,607				(36.3	)
Core operating profit (€ million)			2,354				2,305				2.1
Core operating margin (%)			18.2				18.6				(0.4	)
Underlying sales growth (%)			1.5				(0.6	)
Underlying volume growth (%)			0.8				(1.1	)
Effect of price changes (%)			0.8				0.6

KEY DEVELOPMENTS

•

Turnover growth was 4.5% which included a 5.6% positive currency impact and 2.5% negative impact from acquisitions and disposal activities. Underlying sales growth improved to 1.5% (from negative 0.6% in 2014) with both price and volume contributing 0.8%. Savoury showed good volume-driven growth led by cooking products in emerging markets and by innovations around naturalness and health. In dressings, Hellmann’s demonstrated good growth, with 7% underlying sales growth despite increased competition from new market entrants. Spreads gained market share but turnover declined 5%, reflecting market competition in developed markets.

•

Core operating profit was up by €49 million despite a profit reduction of €82 million relating to acquisitions and disposal activities. Underlying sales growth added €35 million and the impact of exchange rate was a favourable €151 million. In addition, higher supply chain costs led to decline in margins and this reduced profit by €55 million. Brand and marketing investment was up 5%.

 

REFRESHMENT
		2015				2014				%
										Change
Turnover (€ million)			10,120				9,172				10.3
Operating profit (€ million)			840				538				56.1
Core operating profit (€ million)			948				811				16.9
Core operating margin (%)			9.4				8.8				0.6
Underlying sales growth (%)			5.4				3.8
Underlying volume growth (%)			1.5				2.0
Effect of price changes (%)			3.9				1.8

KEY DEVELOPMENTS

•

Refreshment turnover grew by 10.3% including 4.1% favourable currency impact. In ice cream both Magnum and Ben & Jerry’s delivered double-digit growth contributing to the 5.4% underlying sales growth. We continue to build our presence in the premium gelato business with the recently acquired Talenti and Grom. In tea more T2 stores have opened during the year and Lipton and PG Tips have been extended further into fruit, herbal and speciality teas where we are still under-represented.

•

Core operating profit was €137 million higher compared with prior year due to exchange rate movements which added €31 million, underlying sales growth which contributed €47 million, operating margin improvement of €53 million and a €6 million increase from acquisitions and disposal activities. Gross margin was up 0.3 percentage points driven by mix and savings in ice cream. Brand and marketing investment was up 8%.

 

CASH FLOW
		Free cash flow for the year was particularly strong at €4.8 billion compared with €3.1 billion in 2014. Cash flow from operating activities was €9.4 billion compared with €7.9 billion in 2014. The variance is a result of strong cash flow generated from operating activities which included €0.7 billion from efficient working capital management. The prior year was also negatively impacted by €0.8 billion tax arising on business
disposals. Net capital expenditure remains flat in absolute terms at €2.1 billion, 3.9% of turnover, reflecting continued investment in capacity to support growth.

 

		€ million				€ million
		2015				2014
Operating profit			7,515				7,980
Depreciation, amortisation and impairment			1,370				1,432
Changes in working capital			720				8
Pensions and similar obligations less payments			(385	)			(364	)
Provisions less payments			(94	)			32
Elimination of (profits)/losses on disposals			26				(1,460	)
Non-cash charge for share-based compensation			150				188
Other adjustments			49				38
Cash flow from operating activities			9,351				7,854
Income tax paid			(2,021	)			(2,311	)
Net capital expenditure			(2,074	)			(2,045	)
Net interest and preference dividends paid			(460	)			(398	)
Free cash flow			4,796				3,100
Net cash flow (used in)/from investing activities			(3,539	)			(341	)
Net cash flow (used in)/from financing activities			(3,032	)			(5,190	)

The net outflow from investing activities was €3.2 billion higher than in the prior year. This is a combination of current year expenditure of €1.9 billion on business acquisitions (2014: €0.3 billion) and €0.2 billion inflow received from business disposals versus €1.7 billion cash inflow in the prior year.

Net cash outflow from financing activities was €2.2 billion lower than in the prior year. The variance was principally due to higher borrowings in 2015 to finance acquisitions. Prior year also included €0.9 billion spent on the purchase of Leverhulme estate shares.

BALANCE SHEET

In the year to 31 December 2015, Unilever’s combined market capitalisation increased from €93.9 billion to €113.4 billion.

Goodwill and intangible assets increased by €2.9 billion mainly due to business acquisitions and currency movements. All material goodwill and indefinite-life intangible assets have been tested for impairment with no charge recognised during the year. The increase in other non-current assets of €1.0 billion was driven by capital expenditure, currency movements and an increase in pension asset values due to changes in discount and inflation rates.

		€ million				€ million
		2015				2014
Goodwill and intangible assets			25,059				22,174
Other non-current assets			14,553				13,506
Current assets			12,686				12,347
Total assets			52,298				48,027
Current liabilities			20,019				19,642
Non-current liabilities			16,197				14,122
Total liabilities			36,216				33,764
Shareholders’ equity			15,439				13,651
Non-controlling interest			643				612
Total equity			16,082				14,263
Total liabilities and equity			52,298				48,027

Current assets were up by €0.3 billion primarily due to an improved cash balance and an increase in the inventories balance at the end of the year. Cash and cash equivalents on the balance sheet was €2.3 billion compared with €2.2 billion at the end of 2014. Closing net debt was €11.5 billion which is €1.6 billion higher than in the prior year. The increase reflects additional borrowings to finance acquisitions and an adverse currency impact from the US dollar denominated debt.

Current liabilities were €20.0 billion compared with €19.6 billion in 2014. The increase is due to an increase in trade payables and other current liabilities as a result of business growth and improved payment terms.

Non-current liabilities were €16.2 billion, up €2.1 billion in 2015. This includes a €2.7 billion increase in non-current financial liabilities from additional borrowings and currency impact. Pension liability declined by €0.7 billion. On 27 January 2015 we issued €750 million 0.5% fixed rate notes due February 2022. On 28 May 2015 we issued €750 million floating rate notes due in June 2018 and €500 million 1.0% fixed rate notes due in June 2023. On 29 July 2015 we issued US$500 million 2.1% fixed rate notes due on 30 July 2020 and US$500 million 3.1% fixed rate notes due on 30 July 2025.

The table below shows that pension liability net of assets was reduced to €2.3 billion at the end of December 2015 versus
€3.6 billion as at 31 December 2014. The decrease primarily reflects the impact of higher discount rates, investment returns and the cash contributions we have made. Cash expenditure on pensions was €0.7 billion, the same as in the prior year.

 

		€ million
		2015
1 January			(3,571	)
Current service cost			(271	)
Employee contributions			17
Actual return on plan assets (excluding interest)			(254	)
Net interest cost			(121	)
Actuarial gain			1,167
Employer contributions			513
Currency retranslation			(129	)
Other movements(a)			329
31 December			(2,320	)

 

(a)	Other movements relate to special termination benefits, past service costs including losses/(gains) on curtailment, settlements and reclassification of benefits. For more detail see Governance and Financial Report note 4B on page 102.

 

FINANCE AND LIQUIDITY

We concentrate cash in the parent and central finance companies for maximum flexibility. These companies provide loans to our subsidiaries that are also funded through retained earnings and third party borrowings. We maintain access to global debt markets through an infrastructure of short and long-term debt programmes. We make use of plain vanilla derivatives, such as interest rate swaps and foreign exchange contracts, to help mitigate risks. More detail is provided on pages 120 to 125 of our Governance and Financial Report.

Approximately €1.8 billion (or 79%) of the Group’s cash and cash equivalents are held in foreign subsidiaries which repatriate distributable reserves on a regular basis. For most countries this is done through dividends free of tax. In a few countries we face cross-border foreign exchange controls and/or other legal restrictions that inhibit our ability to make these balances available in any means for general use by the wider business. The amount of cash held in these countries was €284 million (2014: €452 million, 2013: €243 million). The cash will generally be invested or held in the relevant country and, given the other capital resources available to the Group, does not significantly affect the ability of the Group to meet its cash obligations.

We closely monitor all our exposures and counter-party limits. Unilever has committed credit facilities in place for general corporate purposes. The undrawn bilateral committed credit facilities in place on 31 December 2015 were US$6,550 million.

CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS AT 31 DECEMBER 2015

€ million		Total				Due within 1 year				Due in 1-3 years				Due in 3-5 years				Due in over 5 years
Total contractual obligations(a)			21,041				6,037				4,567				3,798				6,639

 

(a)	Included within total contractual obligations are long-term debt, interest on financial liabilities, operating lease obligations, purchase obligations for raw and packing materials and finished goods, finance leases and other long-term obligations (not including pensions).

Further details are set out in the Governance and Financial Report in the following notes to the consolidated financial statements: note 10 on pages 111 and 112, note 15C on page 119, and note 20 on pages 130 and 131. Unilever is satisfied that its financing arrangements are adequate to meet its working capital needs for the foreseeable future. In relation to the facilities available to the Group, borrowing requirements do not fluctuate materially during the year and are not seasonal.

AUDIT FEES

Included within operating profit is €15 million (2014: €14 million) paid to the external auditor, of which €14 million (2014: €14 million) related to statutory audit services.

NON-GAAP MEASURES

Certain discussions and analyses set out in this Annual Report and Accounts include measures which are not defined by generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) such as IFRS. We believe this information, along with comparable GAAP measurements, is useful to investors because it provides a basis for measuring our operating performance, ability to retire debt and invest in new business opportunities. Our management uses these financial measures, along with the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, in evaluating our operating performance and value creation. Non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered in isolation from, or as a substitute for, financial

 

information presented in compliance with GAAP. Non-GAAP financial measures as reported by us may not be comparable with similarly titled amounts reported by other companies.

In the following sections we set out our definitions of the following non-GAAP measures and provide reconciliations to relevant GAAP measures:

 

•

underlying sales growth;

•

underlying volume growth;

•

core operating profit and core operating margin;

•

core earnings per share (core EPS);

•

free cash flow; and

•

net debt.

UNDERLYING SALES GROWTH (USG)

Underlying sales growth (USG) refers to the increase in turnover for the period, excluding any change in turnover resulting from acquisitions, disposals and changes in currency. The impact of acquisitions and disposals is excluded from USG for a period of 12 calendar months from the applicable closing date. Turnover from acquired brands that are launched in countries where they were not previously sold is included in USG as such turnover is more attributable to our existing sales and distribution network than the acquisition itself.

The reconciliation of USG to changes in the GAAP measure turnover is as follows:

 

TOTAL GROUP		2015				2014
		vs 2014				vs 2013
Underlying sales growth (%)			4.1				2.9
Effect of acquisitions (%)			0.7				0.4
Effect of disposals (%)			(0.8	)			(1.3	)
Effect of exchange rates (%)			5.9				(4.6	)
Turnover growth (%)(a)			10.0				(2.7	)
PERSONAL CARE		2015				2014
		vs 2014				vs 2013
Underlying sales growth (%)			4.1				3.5
Effect of acquisitions (%)			1.0				–
Effect of disposals (%)			–				(0.1	)
Effect of exchange rates (%)			7.6				(5.0	)
Turnover growth (%)(a)			13.2				(1.8	)
FOODS		2015				2014
		vs 2014				vs 2013
Underlying sales growth (%)			1.5				(0.6	)
Effect of acquisitions (%)			–				–
Effect of disposals (%)			(2.5	)			(3.6	)
Effect of exchange rates (%)			5.6				(3.9	)
Turnover growth (%)(a)			4.5				(7.9	)
HOME CARE		2015				2014
		vs 2014				vs 2013
Underlying sales growth (%)			5.9				5.8
Effect of acquisitions (%)			0.2				1.8
Effect of disposals (%)			(0.1	)			–
Effect of exchange rates (%)			4.5				(4.8	)
Turnover growth (%)(a)			10.9				2.4

 

REFRESHMENT		2015				2014
		vs 2014				vs 2013
Underlying sales growth (%)			5.4				3.8
Effect of acquisitions (%)			1.3				0.4
Effect of disposals (%)			(0.7	)			(1.6	)
Effect of exchange rates (%)			4.1				(4.6	)
Turnover growth (%)(a)			10.3				(2.1	)

 

(a)

Turnover growth is made up of distinct individual growth components namely underlying sales, currency impact, acquisitions and disposals. Turnover growth is arrived at by multiplying these individual components on a compounded basis as there is a currency impact on each of the other components. Accordingly, turnover growth is more than just the sum of the individual components.

UNDERLYING VOLUME GROWTH (UVG)

Underlying volume growth (UVG) is part of USG and means, for the applicable period, the increase in turnover in such period calculated as the sum of (i) the increase in turnover attributable to the volume of products sold; and (ii) the increase in turnover attributable to the composition of products sold during such period. UVG therefore excludes any impact to USG due to changes in prices.

The relationship between the two measures is set out below:

 

		2015				2014
		vs 2014				vs 2013
Underlying volume growth (%)			2.1				1.0
Effect of price changes (%)			1.9				1.9
Underlying sales growth (%)			4.1				2.9

CORE OPERATING PROFIT AND CORE OPERATING MARGIN

Core operating profit and core operating margin mean operating profit and operating margin, respectively, before the impact of business disposals, acquisition and disposal related costs, impairments and other one-off items, which we collectively term non-core items, due to their nature and frequency of occurrence.

The reconciliation of core operating profit to operating profit is as follows:

 

		€ million				€ million
		2015				2014
Operating profit			7,515				7,980
Acquisition and disposal related cost			105				97
(Gain)/loss on disposal of group companies			9				(1,392	)
Impairments and other one-off items			236				335
Core operating profit			7,865				7,020
Turnover			53,272				48,436
Operating margin			14.1	%			16.5	%
Core operating margin			14.8	%			14.5	%

Further details of non-core items can be found in note 3 on page 98 of the Governance and Financial Report.

CORE EARNINGS PER SHARE

The Group also refers to core earnings per share (core EPS). In calculating core earnings, net profit attributable to shareholders’ equity is adjusted to eliminate the post tax impact of non-core items. Refer to note 7 on page 108 of the Governance and Financial Report for reconciliation of core earnings to net profit attributable to shareholders’ equity.

 

FREE CASH FLOW (FCF)

Within the Unilever Group, free cash flow (FCF) is defined as cash flow from operating activities, less income taxes paid, net capital expenditures and net interest payments and preference dividends paid. It does not represent residual cash flows entirely available for discretionary purposes; for example, the repayment of principal amounts borrowed is not deducted from FCF. FCF reflects an additional way of viewing our liquidity that we believe is useful to investors because it represents cash flows that could be used for distribution of dividends, repayment of debt or to fund our strategic initiatives, including acquisitions, if any.

The reconciliation of FCF to net profit is as follows:

 

		€ million				€ million
		2015				2014
Net profit			5,259				5,515
Taxation			1,961				2,131
Share of net profit of joint ventures/associates and other income from non-current investments			(198	)			(143	)
Net finance costs			493				477
Depreciation, amortisation and impairment			1,370				1,432
Changes in working capital			720				8
Pensions and similar obligations less payments			(385	)			(364	)
Provisions less payments			(94	)			32
Elimination of (profits)/losses on disposals			26				(1,460	)
Non-cash charge for share-based compensation			150				188
Other adjustments			49				38
Cash flow from operating activities			9,351				7,854
Income tax paid			(2,021	)			(2,311	)
Net capital expenditure			(2,074	)			(2,045	)
Net interest and preference dividends paid			(460	)			(398	)
Free cash flow			4,796				3,100
Net cash flow (used in)/from investing activities			(3,539	)			(341	)
Net cash flow (used in)/from financing activities			(3,032	)			(5,190	)

NET DEBT

Net debt is defined as the excess of total financial liabilities, excluding trade and other payables, over cash, cash equivalents and current financial assets, excluding trade and other receivables. It is a measure that provides valuable additional information on the summary presentation of the Group’s net financial liabilities and is a measure in common use elsewhere.

The reconciliation of net debt to the GAAP measure total financial liabilities is as follows:

 

		€ million				€ million
		2015				2014
Total financial liabilities			(14,643	)			(12,722	)
Current financial liabilities			(4,789	)			(5,536	)
Non-current financial liabilities			(9,854	)			(7,186	)
Cash and cash equivalents as per balance sheet			2,302				2,151
Cash and cash equivalents as per cash flow statement			2,128				1,910
Add bank overdrafts deducted therein			174				241
Other current financial assets			836				671
Net debt			(11,505	)			(9,900	)

 

DEAR SHAREHOLDERS,

As the new Compensation Committee Chair, I am pleased to present Unilever’s 2015 Directors’ Remuneration Report. I outline below our performance and the decisions we have made on remuneration, all of which have been made in the context of the Committee’s long-held remuneration principles, as set out on page 68 of the Governance and Financial Report.

BUSINESS PERFORMANCE AND REMUNERATION OUTCOMES FOR 2015

ANNUAL BONUS – ANOTHER YEAR OF CONSISTENT PERFORMANCE DELIVERY

Despite a continuing tougher external environment, 2015 saw a good delivery of our targets for financial performance, operational excellence and sustainable development. Unilever’s efforts to deliver sharper category strategies, greater focus on the core and the sustained investments we are making behind our innovations have improved growth. Despite the increasingly volatile environment, we achieved underlying sales growth of 4.1% with a step-up in volume growth and have continued to grow ahead of our markets. By challenging our costs and taking out any non-value-added activity that is not helping to build the business, we delivered core operating margin improvement of 0.3 percentage points.

In 2015 the Committee decided to focus on the importance of cash generation in view of lower global growth rates by replacing underlying volume growth with growth in free cash flow (FCF). For the purpose of the annual bonus calculations, we adjusted FCF delivery from €4.8 billion for one-offs to €4.3 billion (up €0.4 billion from last year). On a formulaic basis the outcome of Unilever’s 2015 performance was 118% of target. Adjusting for quality of results and relative performance, the Committee agreed an above-par 2015 annual bonus outcome of 110% of target. The Committee believes this represents a fair assessment of Unilever’s overall performance over 2015. Personal performance of the Executive Directors has been recognised by the Committee through the remuneration outcomes for 2015 with a bonus of 185% of salary (92% of maximum) for the CEO, Paul Polman, and a bonus of 110% of salary (73% of maximum) for the former CFO, Jean-Marc Huët.

GLOBAL SHARE INCENTIVE PLAN (GSIP) AND MANAGEMENT CO-INVESTMENT PLAN (MCIP) – SUSTAINED PERFORMANCE DELIVERY

Over the past three years, Unilever has delivered consistent financial performance. Underlying sales growth during this period was 3.8% per annum and core operating margin improvement over the period was an average of 0.37 percentage points per year, demonstrating management’s drive for consistent top and bottom line growth. Unilever also generated strong operating cash in the period, with cumulative operating cash flow of €16.6 billion. Total shareholder return (TSR) over this three-year period was below the performance of many of our peers and, as such, no part of the GSIP and MCIP awards related to TSR will vest. On the basis of this performance, the Committee determined that the GSIP and MCIP awards to the end of 2015 will vest at 98% of initial award levels (ie 49% of maximum for GSIP and 65% of maximum for MCIP (which is capped at 150% for the Executive Directors)).

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR CHANGES

Jean-Marc Huët stepped down from the role of CFO and Executive Director on 1 October 2015. Graeme Pitkethly became CFO on that same date and he will be proposed for election to the Boards at the AGMs in April 2016. In line with our shareholder-approved Remuneration Policy, Jean-Marc Huët was treated as a ‘good leaver’ for 2013-2015 GSIP and MCIP awards with performance conditions to be measured at the normal vesting date and awards