Unilever says price hikes helped first quarter sales

Consumer goods giant Unilever warned of a tough economic environment and higher inputs costs as its price hikes and emerging market growth helped first-quarter sales beat forecasts with a 8.4 percent rise. ...

By John Mylant: About the same time as we find Procter & Gamble (PG) floundering, one of its key rivals, Unilever (UL), continues to move up. Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant Unilever beat market expectations with an 8.4 per cent rise in first-quarter sales, sending its shares up 3 per cent. This is far better than P&G.

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant Unilever P

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Consumer goods giant Unilever sees scope for more deals on the Russian market, a year after its purchase of cosmetics maker Kalina doubled the group's non-food business in the country, its chief executive officer told Reuters. "There is no reason why in the future there might not be other opportunities for companies like ours to get together with some of the emerging Russian companies," Paul Polman said in a telephone interview. But the maker of brands such as Dove and Knorr expects most of its Russian growth to be organic, said Polman. ...

ETF Database submits: As the world’s three key developed market zones–the U.S., the EU, and Japan–continue to struggle under the weight of mounting debt burdens, high unemployment, and slow growth environments, investors have made a rapid exodus out of “advanced” markets and into emerging markets that now account for the majority of global GDP growth.