British consumer goods company Unilever reported a decline in its net profit attributable to shareholders' equity for fiscal year 2023.
It dropped from €7.64 billion ($8.22 billion) with 2.99 € per share in the previous year, to €6.49 billion with €2.56 per share.
The prior year results included €2.3 billion profit on disposal for the Tea business.
Looking ahead for fiscal year 2024, Unilever expects underlying sales growth to be within its multi-year range of 3% to 5%, with more balance between volume and price.
The company anticipates a modest improvement in underlying operating margin for the full year.
Unilever announced that its Chief People & Transformation Officer Nitin Paranjpe has decided to retire from the company later this year.
It has appointed Mairead Nayager as its new Chief People Officer, effective 1 June. Mairead is currently Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) of Haleon PLC, having previously served as CHRO of Diageo PLC between 2015 and 2022.
Unilever said it returned €5.9 billion in 2023 to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks. It completed the final two €750 million tranches of €3 billion share buyback programme.
The quarterly interim dividend for the Fourth Quarter is maintained at €0.4268.
Unilever has approved a share buyback programme of up to €1.5 billion to be conducted during 2024, which it expects to commence in the second quarter.
Unilever reported that its profit before taxation for fiscal year 2023 was €9.34 billion down from €10.34 billion in the prior year.
Underlying earnings per share increased 1.4% to 2.60 €, including 9.6% of adverse currency. Constant underlying earnings per share increased by 11.0%, reflecting a strong operational performance.
Turnover for the fiscal year 2023 declined to €59.60 billion from €60.07 billion last year.
