Food and consumer products giant Unilever Thursday posted soaring 2017 profits of 6.5 billion euros ($8.05 billion), after a year of "major change" when it spurned a Kraft Heinz takeover bid. The announcement came a day after Unilever announced it was adding to its popular ice-cream ranges, which include Magnum, by scooping up Romania's leading ice-cream maker, Betty Ice, for an undisclosed price.
Net profit leaped 16.9 percent on sales of 53.7 billion euros, up 1.9 percent year-on-year, which chief executive Paul Polman said "demonstrates the progress we have made in transforming Unilever into a more resilient and more agile business".
"We have delivered a good all-round performance with competitive growth," he said in a statement, adding the company had also made two billion euros in savings during the year. The Rotterdam-based Unilever, which employs some 169,000 people around the world, owns more than 400 household brands including Dove beauty products, Knorr soups, Lipton teas, Magnum ice cream and Marmite.
Since rejecting the bid by its US rival Kraft Heinz in February 2017, Unilever has sought to prove to shareholders that it is better off on its own and has vowed better profitability. The company has been under "immense pressure to convince investors that it can go-it-alone," said companies analyst Simran Jagdev from the Economist Intelligence Unit.
The company bought up or took stakes in 11 companies in 2017, with a heavy focus on organic and natural products including Mae Terra organic food in Brazil and Pukka Herbs organic herbal tea in Britain. Excluding spreads, sales reached 50.7 billion euros, an increase of 2.2 percent over the previous 12 months. Sales were particularly strong in Asia, increasing 5.9 percent and driven by increasing online sales in China, and strong demand in India and Pakistan.
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