Higher input costs have been the monster coming over the hill for many companies for months now. Unilever, one of the world’s largest consumer goods group making everything from Hellmann’s mayonnaise to Sure deodorant, is an obvious casualty.
Despite stagnant margins being built into consensus analyst forecasts already, investors sent shares in the company down by nearly 6 per cent after it revealed that predicting where the full-year margin would land would be much more difficult than usual. Higher crude oil, soya bean and palm oil costs, as well as increases in packaging and freight, mean that average input cost inflation in the high-teens is expected in the second half of this year. Price increases thus far, which reached a rate of 2 per
