Unilever 2003 Annual Report Download - page 21

18 Unilever Annual Report & Accounts and Form 20-F 2003
Financial review
There were no public takeover offers made by Unilever during
2003. Public takeover offers made by Unilever during 2002
related to the following:
On 14 August 2002, Unilever Overseas Holdings Limited and
other members of the Unilever Group were obliged to make an
agreed public tender offer on the Cairo and Alexandria Stock
Exchange in Egypt for 2 938 000 shares (49%) of El Rashidi El
Mizan Confectionery SAE at a price of 31.22 Egyptian pounds per
share. All the shares were acquired. The purchase and price had
been agreed by Bestfoods in 2000 at the time of Bestfoods’
acquisition of 51% of the company.
Subsequently on 22 December 2002, Middle East Food and Trade
Company SAE made an agreed public tender offer on the Cairo
and Alexandria Stock Exchange in Egypt for 6 000 000 shares
(100%) of El Rashidi El Mizan Confectionery SAE held by
members of the Unilever Group at a price of 15.33 Egyptian
pounds per share. The transaction was completed on 6 January
2003 and all the shares were sold.
Disposals
In 2003, we disposed of 50 businesses with a total turnover of
approximately €1 130 million.
On 17 January 2003, we completed the sale of our holdings in
Unipamol Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. and Pamol Plantations Sdn. Bhd.
to Palmco of Malaysia, a subsidiary of IOI Corporation, for a cash
consideration of €138 million. In 2002, these businesses had
combined turnover of approximately €51 million.
On 28 March 2003, we completed the sale of Frigedoc, our
mobile home-vending frozen foods and ice cream business in
France, to Toupargel. This business had an annual turnover of
approximately €242 million.
On 12 May 2003, we completed the sale of the fruit juice
business in Central America to Alimentos Maravilla. This business
had an annual turnover of approximately €27 million.
On 15 May 2003, we announced the sale of the Van den Bergh
Oils business in the UK to Pura Foods Ltd, a subsidiary of ADM
International Ltd. This business had annual third-party turnover
of approximately €60 million.
On 30 June 2003 we completed the sale of our John West
businesses in Australasia to Simplot Australia and GS Private
Equity. In 2002 this business had an annual turnover of
€74 million.
On 31 August 2003 we completed the sale of our cheese
business in Austria and Germany to Bongrain. In 2002 this
business had an annual turnover of €105 million.
On 30 September 2003 we completed the sale of our Brut brand
in North and Latin America to Helen of Troy Ltd for a cash
consideration of €49 million. In 2002 this business had an annual
turnover of €48 million.
On 20 October 2003 we completed the sale of our oral care
brands in North America to Church & Dwight for a cash
consideration of €92 million. In 2002 these businesses had annual
turnover of €155 million.
On 5 December 2003 we completed the sale of the Bio Presto
trademark in Italy to Henkel SpA for a cash consideration of
€45 million. In 2002 this business had an annual turnover of
€37 million.
On 31 December 2003 we completed the sale of our Ambrosia
and Brown & Polson businesses in the UK and Ireland to Premier
Ambient Products (UK) Ltd for a cash consideration of €145
million. In 2002 these businesses had an annual turnover of
€87 million.
In 2002, we disposed of 35 businesses for a total consideration
of approximately €1 993 million.
Significant disposals in 2002 included the DiverseyLever
institutional and industrial cleaning business; the Unimills refinery
business in the Netherlands; the Loders Croklaan Group; 19 foods
brands sold to ACH Food Companies Inc.; the Atkinsons
fragrance business; the Iberia Foods business; the Nocilla
chocolate spreads business; the Mafer snacks business and the
Clemente Jacques culinary business, both in Mexico.
For further information on the impact of acquisitions and
disposals refer also to the Cash flow section of the Financial
Review on page 19 and to note 25 on page 112.
2003
Dividends and market capitalisation
Ordinary dividends paid and proposed on PLC ordinary capital
amounted to 18.08p per 1.4p share (2002: 16.04p), an increase
of 13% per share. Ordinary dividends paid and proposed on the
NV ordinary capital amounted to €1.74 per €0.51 share (2002:
€1.70), an increase of 2% per share. The ratio of dividends
to profit attributable to ordinary shareholders was 61.5%
(2002: 79.2%).
Unilever’s combined market capitalisation at 31 December 2003
was €51.1 billion (2002: €59.9 billion).
Balance sheet
During 2003, net debt decreased to €12 555 million (2002:
€16 966 million). This was due to strong operating cash flow,
the proceeds of business disposals and the favourable effect of
currency movements.
Borrowings at the end of 2003 totalled €15 900 million (2002:
€19 870 million). Taking into account the various cross currency
swaps and other derivatives, 67% (2002: 78%) of Unilever’s
borrowings were in US dollars, and 8% (2002: 1%) in euros, with
the remainder spread over a large number of other currencies.
Long-term borrowings decreased by €2 467 million to
€8 466 million at the end of 2003. At the end of 2003, short-
term borrowings were €7 434 million (2002: €8 937 million),
including €1 675 million of long-term debt coming to within
a year of maturity at the year end. At the end of 2003, 66% of
the long-term debt is repayable within five years (2002: 68%).
Unilever has committed credit facilities in place to support its
commercial paper programmes and for general corporate
purposes. The undrawn committed credit facilities in place
at the end of 2003 were: bilateral committed credit facilities