Paul Polman, the chief executive of Unilever, has a bit of a reputation as a merchant of doom. He shocked the City in September 2013 by warning of a downturn in emerging markets, from where Unilever gets more than half its business. That warning was followed, in varying degrees, by other global consumer goods groups.
Mr Polman is warning again that market conditions will be tougher in 2016. The declining oil price has meant that the economies that produce the stuff will suffer. Also, the fall in the currencies of regions such as Latin America and Indonesia against the dollar has meant the price of imported goods has risen, taking money out of the pockets of local consumers.
Unilever is responding by cutting costs