The shares of Unilever (LSE: ULVR) (NYSE: UL.US) were flat at 2,497p during early London trade this morning after the consumer products giant revealed third-quarter results in line with market expectations.
Unilever, famous worldwide for brands such as Sure, Persil and Domestos, had already warned investors of a slowdown in emerging market sales growth last month.
Underlying sales at the consumer goods giant grew by 3.2% worldwide, in between the 3% – 3.5% range Unilever guided for in its unusual September trading update.
Although emerging market sales slowed to 6.2%, volume growth from this region provided the brunt of Unilever’s improvement in overall sales, with developed markets grinding out small revenue gains. The firm’s Personal Care and Home Care divisions — brands like Dove, TRESemmé and Cif — benefited from impressive underlying sales growth of around 6%.
With a market cap of £71bn, Unilever’s shares trade at 19 times expected earnings. After lifting its interim dividend from 19.8p to 22.8p today, Unilever shares also offer a prospective dividend yield of 3.6%.
