Unilever third quarter results: personal care spotlight

This is one of the key insights released by the major personal care consumer goods player in its recent third quarter results.

Speaking of the companies overall results, CEO Paul Polman said:

“Growth accelerated in the third quarter across all Divisions. We were able to increase prices while still maintaining good volume growth which reflects the strength of our brands and quality of our innovation programme. ​

“Our focus on building our business for the long-term continues to deliver high quality growth​.”

The company says it is enjoying accelerating growth in Asia, and is managing to remain steady through the economic volatility in Latin America, shifting its portfolio into faster growing segments and channels in all of our markets.

Here, we look over the key results related to its beauty and personal care performance.

Price growth​

Beauty & Personal Care underlying sales growth of 4.0% was helped by improved price growth, says the company.

Looking at each of its segments, there was good news across the board, except for in oral care, where sales were down.

Skin care​

Skin care continued with strong growth momentum, helped by innovations including Citra’s new naturals range, says Unilever.

Pond’s launched new premium formats such as a cleansing balm to remove make-up and moisturise.

Skin cleansing performed well driven by the continued success of premium formats including the launch of foaming shower gels.

Meanwhile, in deodorants, price returned to growth and volumes were helped by purpose-led campaigns on Dove Men+Care and Rexona.

Hair care and oral care​

In hair care, while promotional intensity remained high, Dove had a good quarter driven by the roll-out of a new naturals range and the launch of ‘super’ conditioners to reduce hair damage in just one minute.

Indeed, instant results claims are proving a trend driving sales more broadly in personal care, as picked out in our trend spotting focus here​.

In oral care, sales were slightly down as market conditions remained challenging in France, Indonesia and Brazil.

Prestige pushes forward​

Growth in prestige accelerated with double-digit growth in Hourglass, Kate Somerville, Living Proof and REN, explains Unilever.

Love, Beauty and Planet, the largest of the company’s new brand launches, was extended into deodorants and skin care this quarter.

Finally, a new brand - K-Bright - was launched in South East Asia to address the fast-growing Korean beauty trend.