Unilever 2015 Annual Report Download - page 10

MEETIN THESE OALS WILL
FUNDAMENTALLY HANE
HOW WE DO BUSINESS
We further enhanced our presence n the
faster growng premum sectors of the
market, both by premumsng our exstng
portfolo – wth ntatves lke Dove
Advanced Har Seres – and by buldng a
Prestge busness n Personal are wth
the acquston of wonderful busnesses
lke Dermalogca, REN, Murad and Kate
Somervlle The addton of smlarly strong
acqustons n Refreshment – rom and
Talent – are enablng us to premumse
further our offerng n ce cream
Q How dd ths translate
nto the fnancal performance
of Unlever
A Despte operatng n soft markets,
we sustaned our growth momentum
throughout the year and underlyng
sales growth of 41% represents a good
performance n global markets growng
at around 3%
Our savngs and effcency programmes,
combned wth the efforts we have made
to drve proftablty n certan parts of the
busness, notably Home are, and our
emphass on more margn-accretve
nnovatons, meant that we ended the year
wth an mprovement n core operatng
margn of 03 percentage ponts
Tght control of workng captal contrbuted
to a healthy year of cash flow delvery of
48 bllon, whch – combned wth the
mprovement n operatng margn –
contrbuted to core earnngs per share
growth of 14%
Q Where do you see the
need for most mprovement
A There are three areas n partcular
where we need to step up performance
next year
Frst, wth competton comng from all
drectons and at an ever faster pace, we
need to mprove our nnovaton cycle
tmes and ensure we roll out nnovatons
faster and to more markets To that end,
we have set ourselves some challengng
obectves on nnovaton tme and
organsatonal aglty
Second, we have many wonderful brands
but f they are not where the shopper
wants them, when they want them, then
our busness wll suffer Sharpenng
our executon wth mproved dstrbuton,
customer servce levels and on-shelf
avalablty are urgent prortes
And, fnally, wth growth – partcularly
prce growth – set to reman constraned
for some tme to come, t s even more
mportant that we bear down on all
spendng areas and ensure that our costs
only reflect what the consumer s wllng to
pay for We wll be rollng out net revenue
management and zero-based budgetng
across the organsaton from 2016 to keep
our busness compettve and ensure we
have the funds to nvest behnd the many
opportuntes for growth that stll exst
We have made sgnfcant progress n each
of these areas over recent years, but t s
a mark of how fast the envronment s
evolvng that, to reman agle and effectve,
we need to step up our efforts once agan
Q How were you able to further
your commtment to sustanable
and equtable growth n 2015
A The USLP commts us to a total value
chan approach and we made further
progress, ncludng n drvng the effcency
and sustanablty of our own operatons We
reached a mlestone of 1 mllon tonnes of
O2 savngs from energy n manufacturng
– that’s a reducton of 36% snce 2008 we
have now avoded costs of over 600 mllon
as a result of eco-effcency savngs n our
factores and n 2015 our proporton of
agrcultural raw materals sourced
sustanably reached a new hgh of 60%
Whle these measures are necessary, they
are not suffcent we have always sad that
the bggest mpact we can have s n drvng
consumer behavour change through our
Sustanable Lvng brands, lke Dove,
Lfebuoy, Ben & Jerry’s and omfort In
2015, we announced fndngs that these
purpose-drven brands were growng at
twce the rate of the rest of the busness
Sustanable and equtable growth go
hand n hand and n 2015 we were
pleased to demonstrate our unwaverng
commtment to equtable growth by beng
the frst company to produce a human
rghts report usng the UN udng
Prncples Reportng Framework Whle
the report acknowledges that we stll have
progress to make, we beleve that ths knd
of openness and transparency s a vtal part
of drvng up standards across the board
LOBAL OLLABORATION
KNORR IS FORTIFYIN BOUILLON UBES
WITH IRON TO TAKLE ANAEMIA IN
NIERIA, SUPPORTIN SD 3 ‘OOD
HEALTH AND WELLBEIN’
17
SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT OALS
The Unted Natons adopted 17
Sustanable Development oals
(SDs) n 2015, provdng a
hstorc opportunty to buld a
better future for everyone, and
amng to ensure the health,
safety and future of our planet
OUR
SUSTAINABLE
LIVIN BRANDS
ARE WORKIN
TOWARDS MAKIN
THE SDs
A REALITY
7Unilever Annual Report and Accounts 2015 Strategic Report