Unilever PLC (ULVR) Q2 2026 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good morning and thank you for joining us for Unilever's second quarter and half year results. In a moment, Srini will take you through the details of the results. But first, let me highlight the key elements of our performance over the first half as I see them and how desire at scale is fundamental to our strong delivery. I have said consistently that volume growth is our overriding priority. It is a true measure of demand and even more important signal of progress during times like this of heightened volatility. It is particularly encouraging, therefore, to be able to present today a strong volume-led hub for Unilever. and not just a strong performance, but an accelerating one, with underlying sales growth in the second quarter of 5.8%, with volume up 5.5%. This is Unilever's best quarterly volume performance since 2010. Our underlying volume growth over the last four quarters averaged 3%, a testament to the strength of our brands and our discipline execution. These strong first half results reflect progress against our key strategic priorities, including, most notably, the performance of our power brands. Now, sitting at 78% of our turnover, these brands continue to outperform, delivering underlying sales growth in the second quarter of 6.9%, with 6.8% coming from volume. a strong innovation program meant there were particularly great performances from DAF, Tertis Good, Comfort, Sunsil and Vaseline. Prioritizing these brands means focusing resources and investing competitively, which is why our brand and marketing investment is concentrated on our power brands. Significantly, today's results also reflect broad strengths across our HPC business, with underlying sales growth in the second quarter of 7.6%, with volume up 7.4%. It was also a good half for our emerging...