Unilever voices satisfaction with first-half momentum

Unilever has announced its financial results for the first six months of 2013, expressing satisfaction with its growth during the half-year.

The company's turnover for the period was up by 0.4 percent year on year to 25.5 billion euros (22.02 billion pounds), with underlying sales growth rising by five percent, volume growth improving by 2.6 percent and pricing up by 2.3 percent.

All categories saw an enhanced performance globally, with strong growth from the home care and personal care divisions, while emerging markets continued to demonstrate the most rapid development, surging by 10.3 percent.

Unilever believes that its robust innovation pipeline, global expansion and continued efficiency improvements will help to bolster its bottom line during the remainder of the year.

The group also revealed earlier this year that it is progressing well with its environmental efforts and has reduced its carbon dioxide emissions from manufacturing and logistics by one million tonnes since 2008.

Chief executive officer Paul Polman said: "We remain focused on achieving another year of profitable volume growth ahead of our markets, steady and sustainable core operating margin improvement and strong cash flow."