Unilever offers $5.4bn for a better grip on Hindustan Unilever
Shares in Hindustan Unilever, Unilever’s Indian arm, soared around 20 per cent on Tuesday after its Anglo-Dutch parent announced a $5.4bn offer to raise its stake from 52.5 per cent to 75 per cent.
That’s certainly a big vote of confidence in the Indian consumer, as Unilever said in its statement. But it also looks like a response to recent moves to tighten rules on the control majority shareholders can exercise over their Indian subsidiaries. Continue reading »
Unilever: you (EM) beauty
Unilever shares were boosted by better-than-expected Q4 results on Wednesday, with sales growth in emerging markets leading the way.
Unilever is investing heavily in EMs, at some cost to margins, but investors are more than happy to back the strategy, in which the group is planning to raise the proportion of revenues coming from EMs from 55 per cent last year to 70-75 per cent in 2020. The stock was up 3 per cent – the best performer on the FTSE 100 as of mid-afternoon. Continue reading »
Hindustan Lever results: the markets’ darling disappoints
Shares in Hindustan Lever, Unilever’s Indian affiliate, were down 4.5 per cent to Rs458.70 in trading on Wednesday, after dropping 3.3 per cent on Tuesday after the company on Monday reported disappointing figures for the quarter ended in December.
Several brokers downgraded the stock, one of India’s top-rated companies and a darling of foreign portfolio investors. Continue reading »
Reckitt: the DM-EM swing
As Reckitt Benckiser‘s results on Monday suggest, what emerging markets give, developed markets take away.
The consumer goods group, maker of products such as Finish dishwasher tablets and Nurofen painkillers, reported a slight increase in first half profits of 2 per cent, to £1.07bn. But the flatish number hides a see-saw in the company’s geographical performance. Continue reading »
Lifebuoy in EMs: a blast from the past
What to do if consumer needs change and the demand for your star product evaporates? Economic Darwinists would find that an easy question to answer: “Adapt or die.”
When Unilever was confronted with the decline of Lifebuoy soap in the UK, however, it decided to stick with the product unchanged – but to seek its future in emerging markets. The strategy has paid off. Nearly twenty years after the iconic brand exited its UK and US strongholds, Lifebuoy thrives as never before. Continue reading »
Ding dong, Shaktimaan calling
Zimbabwe: who’s next for ‘localisation’?
For two years Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF has been ratcheting up the pressure on foreign-owned firms demanding that they dispose of a minimum of 51 per cent of their shares to indigenous Zimbabweans. This week’s agreement (in principle) for the localisation of majority ownership of Zimbabwe’s largest exporter Zimplats has the potential to be a gamechanger, economically and politically.
With elections due in the next 18 months, the Zanu-PF will be keen to push on with the programme. So which companies are next in line? Continue reading »
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Stefan Wagstyl
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