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Unilever PLC warned Tuesday that it expects a slight miss against previous expectations of underlying sales growth in 2019, and that for 2020 it expects growth to be in the lower half of its guided range.
The Anglo-Dutch maker ULVR, +1.88% of Hellmann’s mayonnaise and Dove soap said 2019 underlying sales growth, a metric which excludes exceptional costs, would be below its guidance of the lower half of its 3% to 5% multi-year range.
“Due to challenges in certain markets, we expect a slight miss to our full year underlying sales growth delivery,” Chief Executive Alan Jope said.
However, the company noted that earnings, margin and cash are not expected to be affected.
The company blamed challenges in the quarter in some markets, including an economic slowdown in South Asia and that trading in developed markets continues to be challenging as well.
Unilever cautioned that a full recovery will take time.
Looking forward to 2020, the company said that growth will be second-half weighted, and first-half growth will be below 3%. For the full year, underlying sales growth is expected to be in the lower half of the multi-year range.
