Unilever PLC (ULVR.L) — Company Research

Last Updated: 23 October 2026

Unilever PLC is one of the world's largest consumer-goods companies, selling Dove, Vaseline, Persil, Domestos, Sunsilk, Hellmann's and Knorr in more than 190 countries. It is in the middle of a large reshaping: the Ice Cream business was demerged as The Magnum Ice Cream Company in December 2025, and in March 2026 Unilever agreed to combine most of its Foods business with McCormick, which would leave a company focused on beauty, wellbeing, personal care and home care. Since the last version of this report (6 June 2026) Unilever has reported a stronger first half with faster volume growth, raised its 2026 sales guidance, completed its 2026 buyback and moved the McCormick deal into regulatory review. The third-quarter trading statement is due on 28 October 2026. Every figure below comes from Unilever's results announcements, RNS notices and SEC filings. There are no analyst opinions, price targets or ratings anywhere in it.

Share prices, and figures worked out from them, are not shown for London-listed companies on ChartsView.

1. Company Snapshot

Field	Value
Ticker / exchange	ULVR.L — London Stock Exchange; also Euronext Amsterdam and NYSE (ADS: UL)
Sector	Consumer staples — beauty, personal care, home care and foods
Revenue (FY2025)	€50,503m turnover from continuing operations (excluding Ice Cream), down 3.8% reported; underlying sales growth (USG) 3.5%
Net profit (FY2025)	€6,213m from continuing operations; €10,011m including discontinued Ice Cream
Earnings per share (FY2025)	Underlying EPS €3.08; diluted EPS €2.59 (continuing)
Underlying operating margin	20.0% in FY2025 (up 60 basis points); 20.3% in H1 2026
H1 2026	Turnover €25,623m; USG 4.8% with volume up 4.2%; underlying EPS €1.61
Employees	About 96,000 (2025 Form 20-F announcement, after the Ice Cream demerger)
CEO / Leadership	Fernando Fernandez, Chief Executive Officer; Srinivas Phatak, Chief Financial Officer; Ian Meakins, Chair
Headquarters	100 Victoria Embankment, London
Reporting currency	Euro (€)

2. The Bull and Bear Case

Bull Case

• Volume-led acceleration: H1 2026 underlying sales growth was 4.8% with volume up 4.2%, Q2 was 5.8%, and on 28 July 2026 management raised 2026 guidance to the full 4–6% range with about 3% volume growth.
• Power Brands pulling ahead: the Power Brands, about 78% of turnover, grew 6.0% in H1 2026 with 5.4% volume, led by prestige beauty, Liquid I.V., Dove and Vaseline.
• Cleaner portfolio after Foods: the McCormick deal brings $15.7bn of cash plus a 9.9% stake, and leaves a business of about €39bn of turnover in which beauty, wellbeing and personal care rise to about 67%.
• Cash and capital returns: free cash flow was €5,921m in FY2025, the quarterly dividend was raised 3% to €0.4664, and €6bn of buybacks are planned over 2026–29.
• Productivity delivered early: the €800m productivity programme was completed ahead of plan, helping H1 2026 underlying operating margin rise to 20.3% despite cost inflation.

Bear Case

• Commodity cost squeeze: management expects about €850m of commodity inflation in 2026, and H1 gross margin fell 70 basis points to 46.8%; H2 growth is guided to be led by pricing.
• Currency drag: exchange rates cut H1 2026 turnover by 4.9% and underlying EPS by 6.0%, and a further hit of about 3% to full-year turnover is guided.
• Deal execution risk: the Foods combination still needs a McCormick shareholder vote and regulatory clearance, including a UK CMA Phase 1 review, and leaves €400–500m of stranded costs to remove over 2027–29.
• Soft spots in Europe and Foods: Europe USG was minus 0.9% in H1 2026 and Foods grew only 0.2% in Q2, while net debt rose to €26.0bn, 2.3 times underlying EBITDA.

3. Business Segments

Unilever reports four Business Groups. Foods stays in the reported numbers until the McCormick combination completes. The table shows FY2025 turnover from continuing operations.

Segment	% of revenue	What it is
Personal Care (€13.2bn)	26%	Deodorants, skin cleansing and oral care — Dove, Rexona, Lifebuoy, Vaseline, Dr. Squatch. FY2025 USG 4.7%; underlying operating margin 22.6%.
Foods (€12.9bn)	26%	Knorr, Hellmann's and other cooking and condiment brands. Most of it is being combined with McCormick. FY2025 USG 2.5%; margin 22.6%.
Beauty & Wellbeing (€12.8bn)	25%	Hair care, skin care, prestige beauty (Hourglass, K18, Tatcha, Paula's Choice, Dermalogica) and wellbeing (Liquid I.V., Nutrafol, Olly). FY2025 USG 4.3%; margin 19.2%.
Home Care (€11.6bn)	23%	Laundry and household cleaning — Persil/Omo, Comfort, Domestos, Cif, Sunlight. FY2025 USG 2.6%; margin 14.9%.

In H1 2026 Home Care grew fastest (USG 7.6%), followed by Beauty & Wellbeing (5.9%), Personal Care (4.8%) and Foods (1.2%). Track consumer-staples names on the ChartsView Live Charts page.

4. Business Model and Moat

How it makes money. Unilever sells everyday branded products at modest prices but in enormous volumes, through supermarkets, convenience stores, distributors and online. Growth is reported as underlying sales growth, split into volume and price. In FY2025 USG was 3.5% (1.5% volume, 2.0% price); in H1 2026 it was 4.8% (4.2% volume, 0.6% price).

Unit economics. A gross margin of about 47% pays for heavy brand and marketing investment and still leaves an underlying operating margin of about 20%. FY2025 underlying operating profit was €10.1bn and underlying EBITDA €11,394m.

The moat. Trusted, often category-leading brands, very deep distribution in emerging markets (about 60% of turnover) and scale in buying, advertising and logistics give Unilever shelf space and pricing power. The moat is shared with rivals of similar size, and private label competes on price.

Capital allocation. The framework is a dividend payout of about 60%, about €1.5bn a year of bolt-on acquisitions, leverage of about 2 times EBITDA, and €6bn of buybacks over 2026–29 funded by separation cash and trading.

5. Financial Health

Unilever reports in euros under IFRS. FY2021 to FY2024 are shown as originally reported, including Ice Cream and before the 8-for-9 share consolidation of December 2025. FY2025 is continuing operations only. Long-term debt is non-current financial liabilities at each year end, checked against Unilever's SEC XBRL filings (ifrs-full:NoncurrentFinancialLiabilities, CIK 0000217410).

Fiscal Year	Revenue (€m)	YoY %	GAAP EPS	Adjusted EPS	Dividend/share	Long-term debt (YE)
FY2021	52,444	+3.4%	€2.32	€2.62	€1.71	€22,881m
FY2022	60,073	+14.5%	€2.99	€2.57	€1.71	€23,713m
FY2023	59,604	−0.8%	€2.56	€2.60	€1.71	€24,535m
FY2024	60,761	+1.9%	€2.29	€2.98	€1.76	€25,066m
FY2025†	50,503	−3.8%	€2.59	€3.08	€1.82	€25,696m

† FY2025 is continuing operations (excluding Ice Cream) and EPS reflects the share consolidation. The −3.8% is measured against restated FY2024 continuing turnover of €52,479m (restated FY2024 diluted EPS €2.44, underlying EPS €3.06); USG was +3.5%, currency −5.9% and net disposals −1.2%. Adjusted EPS is Unilever's underlying EPS. Dividend per share is the sum of the four quarterly dividends declared for each year (€0.4268 a quarter through 2023; €0.4664 from Q4 2025).

Quarter / Half	Revenue (€m)	Adjusted EPS	GAAP EPS
Q2 2026	13,046 (USG 5.8%)	Half-yearly only	Half-yearly only
Q1 2026	12,562 (USG 3.8%)	Half-yearly only	Half-yearly only
H1 2026	25,623 (USG 4.8%)	€1.61	€1.38
H2 2025	24,997 (derived: FY less H1)	Not published	Not published
H1 2025	25,506 (re-presented, continuing)	€1.57	€1.42
FY2025 total (continuing)	50,503	€3.08	€2.59

Unilever gives turnover and growth each quarter but earnings only at the half and full year. H1 2026 net profit from continuing operations was €3,291m, down 3.5%. Q3 2026 turnover is not yet published; the trading statement is due on 28 October 2026.

Cash flow and balance sheet. In FY2025 cash flow from operating activities before tax was €10,772m, income tax paid €2,720m, net capital expenditure €1,465m and depreciation and amortisation €1,310m, giving free cash flow of €5,921m. At 31 December 2025 cash was €3,941m, financial liabilities €28,278m (current €2,582m, non-current €25,696m) and net debt €23,076m. At 30 June 2026 cash was €4,726m, financial liabilities €32,110m and net debt €25,961m. SEC XBRL data confirms the FY2025 balance-sheet figures and D&A.

2026 guidance (raised 28 July 2026, repeated 5 October 2026). Underlying sales growth of 4–6% with about 3% volume, H2 USG of 4–5% led by price, a modest improvement in underlying operating margin from 20.0%, capex above 3% of turnover, an underlying tax rate of about 26% and currency impact of about −3% on turnover.

6. Valuation Metrics

Share prices, and figures worked out from them, are not shown for London-listed companies on ChartsView.

Raw metrics, October 2026. Not opinions on whether the stock is cheap or expensive.

Metric	Value
Free cash flow	€5,921m in FY2025 (Unilever definition, after tax, interest and net capex of €1,465m); €1,549m in H1 2026
Underlying EBITDA	€11,394m in FY2025 (underlying operating profit €10.1bn plus D&A)
Net debt	€25,961m at 30 June 2026 (31 December 2025: €23,076m)
Net debt / underlying EBITDA	2.3x at 30 June 2026 on a rolling 12-month basis (2.0x at 31 December 2025); target about 2x
Underlying operating margin	20.3% in H1 2026 (FY2025: 20.0%)
Dividend per share	€0.4664 a quarter for Q1 and Q2 2026, up 3%; Q3 dividend to be declared on 28 October 2026; payout policy about 60%
Share buyback	€1.5bn 2026 programme completed 5 June 2026 (30,703,780 shares); €6bn planned over 2026–29
Shares in issue	2,154,327,953 voting shares at 1 October 2026, excluding treasury shares
Short interest (% of float)	London line: no aggregate net short position published — Unilever does not appear in the FCA's aggregated net short file (positions at or above 0.2%) as of 23 October 2026. NYSE ADS: 4,575,254 shares short, about 0.21% of total shares (MarketBeat, settlement 15 September 2026). Verify at fca.org.uk.
Days to cover	About 1.2 days for the NYSE ADS (MarketBeat, 15 September 2026); not published for the London line

7. What Are They Building

A pure-play home and personal care company. On FY2025 pro forma figures, Unilever without most of Foods has about €39bn of turnover, 67% of it in beauty, wellbeing and personal care, 38% from the US and India combined, a 48% gross margin and an underlying operating margin of about 19%. Management targets mid-single-digit USG with at least 2% volume growth. An investor event in New York on 4 November 2026 is expected to set out the plan in more detail.

Prestige beauty and wellbeing. Prestige brands (Hourglass, K18, Tatcha, Paula's Choice, Dermalogica) accelerated in Q2 2026, with K18 growing strong double digits. In wellbeing, Liquid I.V. grew high single digits and Olly double digits in H1 2026, and Unilever bought Grüns, a US greens-supplement brand, in June 2026.

Bolt-ons in, smaller businesses out. Recent personal-care acquisitions include Wild (2025), Dr. Squatch (2025) and Minimalist in India (2025). Disposals in 2026 include Graze, the Indonesian tea business, Home Care in Colombia, Ecuador, Central America and the Caribbean, and Sariwangi; Colman's mustard has been put up for sale.

Social-first marketing. Unilever is moving more of its marketing to social media and creators, and pushing premium products and digital commerce. It has not disclosed AI spending figures.

8. Competitive Landscape

Unilever competes with the largest global consumer-goods groups in personal care, beauty, home care and foods.

Peer	Market cap (Oct 2026)	Key 2025 metric
Procter & Gamble (PG)	About $385bn (companiesmarketcap.com, 22 Oct 2026)	FY2025 (to June) net sales $84.3bn, flat; organic sales +2% (P&G results release)
Nestlé (NESN)	About $264bn (companiesmarketcap.com, Oct 2026)	2025 organic growth 3.5%, real internal growth 0.8% (Nestlé full-year 2025 results)
L'Oréal (OR)	About $241bn (companiesmarketcap.com, Oct 2026)	2025 sales €44.05bn, +4.0% like-for-like (L'Oréal 2025 annual report)
Colgate-Palmolive (CL)	About $78bn (companiesmarketcap.com, 22 Oct 2026)	2025 net sales $20,382m; organic sales +1.4% (Colgate Q4 2025 release)
Reckitt (RKT.L)	Not shown (London-listed)	2025 Core Reckitt like-for-like net revenue +5.2% (Reckitt full-year results 2025)

Unilever's FY2025 USG of 3.5% and H1 2026 USG of 4.8% sit within the range of these peers, with a higher share of sales from emerging markets than P&G, L'Oréal or Colgate.

9. Leadership and Insider Activity

Fernando Fernandez is Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Srinivas Phatak is Chief Financial Officer and Ian Meakins is Chair. Director and PDMR (persons discharging managerial responsibilities) dealings disclosed through RNS notices in 2026 include:

Name	Date	Type	Shares	Plan Type
Heiko Schipper (President, Foods)	23 Sep 2026	Sale	345	Discretionary sale (Euronext)
Srinivas Phatak (CFO)	23 Sep 2026	Purchase	About 451 (London) plus 34 (euro line)	Dividend reinvestment
Fabian Garcia (President, Personal Care)	21 Aug 2026	Sale	15,643 ADSs	Discretionary sale (NYSE)
Heiko Schipper (President, Foods)	31 Jul 2026	Sale	1,400	Discretionary sale
Ruby Lu (Non-Executive Director)	08 Jun 2026	Purchase	8,915 ADSs	Open-market purchase
Benoît Potier (Non-Executive Director)	29 May 2026	Purchase	2,040	Open-market purchase
Judith McKenna (Non-Executive Director)	28 May 2026	Purchase	4,295 ADSs	Open-market purchase
Fernando Fernandez (CEO)	14 May 2026	Award	About 116,372	Performance Share Plan grant
Srinivas Phatak (CFO)	14 May 2026	Award	About 65,113	Performance Share Plan grant

Three non-executive directors bought shares in the open market in May and June 2026; the executive sales were small relative to holdings.

10. Key Risks

• Foods deal execution (Strategic): the McCormick combination needs McCormick shareholder approval, competition clearances including a UK CMA Phase 1 decision due by 11 November 2026, and works-council consultation. About 65% of the value comes as McCormick shares, and Unilever must remove €400–500m of stranded costs.
• Commodity inflation (Financial): about €850m of commodity cost inflation is expected in 2026; if pricing does not offset it, the guided margin improvement is at risk.
• Currency (Macro): reporting in euros with about 60% of turnover from emerging markets; currency cut H1 2026 underlying EPS by 6.0%.
• Emerging-market disruption (Macro): Brazil's tax reform may cause retailer destocking in Q4 2026, Argentina and Turkey are under hyperinflation accounting, and India is tightening food front-of-pack labelling rules.
• Competition and Europe (Operational): Europe USG was minus 0.9% in H1 2026, US condiments are losing share, and P&G, L'Oréal, Reckitt and private label compete hard.
• Leverage and shareholder pressure (Financial): net debt rose to €26.0bn (2.3x EBITDA) at H1 2026, and a former shareholder has publicly criticised the McCormick deal.

11. Recent Developments

• 05 Jun 2026 — 2026 buyback completed. The €1.5bn programme finished, buying back 30,703,780 shares.
• 09 Jul 2026 — Deal criticised by former investor. Fund manager Terry Smith, a former shareholder, accused Unilever of misleading shareholders over the McCormick Foods deal, as reported by FoodNavigator.
• 23 Jul 2026 — Combined company plans set out. McCormick named the operating model and executive team for the combined Foods business and confirmed a London secondary listing alongside its NYSE primary listing.
• 28 Jul 2026 — H1 2026 results and guidance raised. Turnover €25,623m, USG 4.8% with 4.2% volume, underlying EPS €1.61 and margin 20.3%; 2026 guidance raised to USG of 4–6% with about 3% volume; the €800m productivity programme was completed early.
• 28 Aug 2026 — Colman's put up for sale. Unilever began a sale process for Colman's mustard, which stays outside the McCormick deal, according to trade press reports.
• 17 Sep 2026 — CMA Phase 1 review. The UK Competition and Markets Authority opened a Phase 1 inquiry into the McCormick and Unilever Foods combination, with a decision due by 11 November 2026.
• 01 Oct 2026 — Regulatory filings on schedule. McCormick said merger filings had been submitted on schedule across jurisdictions; completion is still expected by mid-2027 at the latest.

12. Key Dates to Watch

• 28 Oct 2026 — Q3 2026 trading statement and Q3 dividend declaration
• 04 Nov 2026 — Unilever Investor Event, New York
• 11 Nov 2026 — UK CMA Phase 1 decision deadline on the McCormick Foods combination
• 12 Nov 2026 — Q3 dividend ex-dividend date for ordinary shares (13 Nov 2026 for ADSs; record date 13 Nov 2026)
• 18 Dec 2026 — Q3 dividend payment date
• Expected Feb 2027 — FY2026 results (date not yet published)
• Expected mid-2027 — completion of the Foods combination with McCormick, at the latest

Central bank decisions and inflation releases that move consumer-goods shares are on the ChartsView Economic Calendar. Discuss Unilever with other investors in the ChartsView Forum.

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