All consumer companies love to under-promise and over-deliver when it comes to growth and innovation. With its back to the wall last year after batting away a surprise and unwelcome £115 billion takeover offer from Kraft Heinz of America, Unilever felt obliged to make a number of very big promises in the hope of seeing off any further unwanted approaches and accelerate value creation for shareholders. These included selling off its low-growth spreads business, raising its dividend and a €5 billion share buyback. It also stepped up acquisitions and launched a handful of new products to refocus its portfolio on higher growth lines.
Yesterday’s full-year results show the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant making good early progress on meeting some of its ambitious goals, though they