Unilever 2015 Annual Report Download - page 26

REFRESHMENT
REFRESHMENT IS OUR BEVERAE
AND IE REAM ATEORY WHIH
HAD A TURNOVER OF 101 BILLION
IN 2015
Our largest brands are Magnum and
Heartbrand (Wall’s) and Lpton tea, all
of whch are 1 bllon brands
The category accounts for 19% of roup
turnover and 11% of operatng proft and
ts strategc role s to enhance the roup’s
proftable growth momentum through
sustaned growth n ce cream and growng
faster n tea, whle steppng up cash flows
and return on nvested captal
Durng 2015 the category was focused on
growng ts core wth margn-enhancng
nnovatons and best-n-class retal
executon, both through customers’ stores
and through Unlever’s own retal channels,
to delver the ultmate brand experence
Ths focus meant Refreshment grew
underlyng sales by 54% wth a postve
performance across key geographes
Ice cream delvered very strong growth,
ncreasng ts presence n a growng and
dynamc sector and helped by successful
nnovatons behnd premum brands n
Europe and North Amerca Performance
was also helped by good summer weather
n Europe
Innovatons ncluded Magnum Pnk & Black
and the Ben & Jerry’s ooke ore range In
September 2015 we acqured rom, a gelato
busness wth 60 stores n Italy and around
the world, strengthenng our portfolo
Our success came wthn the context
of consderable consoldaton among
rvals and the growth of local competton
But our strong portfolo of brands and
executon n markets helped us to secure
our poston and grow compettvely
The year also saw campagns around
sugar-related health ssues and we are
respondng responsbly 100% of our
chldren’s brands have fewer than 110
calores whle, by the end of 2015, 90% of
our packaged ce cream products dd not
exceed 250 calores per porton We are
also reducng sugar n our ready-to-drnk
tea, consstent wth our USLP commtment
to help people to acheve a healther det
The category strengthened ts place n the
premum end of the ce cream busness
through brands such as Talent that offer
‘pure, real and authentc’ products, wth
sustanably sourced ngredents Early
results for Talent have been promsng
Meanwhle, establshed brands such as
Ben & Jerry’s contnued to delver strong
busness performance whle leadng the
charge on sustanable growth The brand
launched Save Our Swrled – a global
campagn attractng 300,000 followers –
to help wn a strong clmate change
agreement at the Pars OP21 conference
at the end of 2015 (see page 24)
Beverages had a more challengng
year, wtnessng modest growth n hghly
compettve markets wth South Asa
as a brght spot, n partcular Inda
and Pakstan
The second half of 2015 saw a number of
premum nnovatons comng to market
These ncluded the expanson of our T2
stores, the launch of tea capsules n
Europe and the launch n France of TO by
Lpton, our bespoke n-home tea machne
Another hghlght was the launch of the
Lpton Specalty Black range and Lpton
reen Tea
Lpton contnues ts ourney as a
Sustanable Lvng brand and after eght
years t has reached the mlestone of all
the tea for ts teabags beng sourced from
Ranforest Allance certfed estates at
the end of 2015
Our retal operatons across both ce cream
and tea were strengthened by the formaton
of a global Unlever retal organsaton
to mprove our 1,100 stores from T2 to
Ben & Jerry’s Scoop shops Through our
retal customers we also contnued wth
our famous Asles and orners of Joy
n-store executons
I AM WALL’S
The I Am Wall’s programme nvests n
buldng sklls such as sales, customer
servce and problem solvng Prortes
nclude recrutng unsklled people who may
be tradtonally excluded from the workplace
and provdng young people wth work
experence as they step nto the ob market
In 2015, Wall’s created
employment n South and
South East Asa, whch are our
bggest markets for moble
vendors We also have I Am
Wall’s mcro-entrepreneurs
n Europe THE
I AM WALL’S
PRORAMME
REATES JOBS SELLIN
OUR IE REAM AND
PROVIDES TRAININ
FOR MIRO
ENTREPRENEURS
30%
In 2015, the I Am Wall’s programme n Inda
grew 30%, generatng turnover of 18 mllon
and contrbutng 20% to the Indan ce cream
busness At any tme durng the year there were
more than 4,000 self-employed vendors makng
ther lvng through sellng Wall’s ce cream
across maor Indan ctes
23Unilever Annual Report and Accounts 2015 Strategic Report