London, March 13, 2026, 14:38 GMT
Shares of Unilever Plc barely budged on Friday. The company, known for Dove soap, submitted its 2025 annual report and Form 20-F for U.S. investors, reiterating its cautious sales outlook for 2026. Earlier Friday, delayed data put the stock down 0.1% at 4,821.5 pence, compared to Thursday’s 4,827.5 pence close.
The filing is key because CEO Fernando Fernandez still needs to prove a slimmed-down Unilever can accelerate growth after offloading its Magnum ice cream division in December. Back in February, shares slid over 3% when Unilever flagged that 2026 growth would hit the lower end of its 4%-6% target. RBC’s James Edwardes Jones acknowledged glimpses of improvement but cautioned “it will take time.” Quilter Cheviot’s Chris Beckett pointed out that developed-market buyers aren’t “firing on all cylinders.” Reuters
The stock’s got an air of caution around it. According to a factsheet from the London Stock Exchange released Friday, Unilever trailed the FTSE 350 during the past year. Friday’s trading held steady, but that was against a softer London backdrop—FTSE 100 slipped 0.3% as oil prices holding above $100 stirred up inflation fears.
Unilever reported 2025 turnover of 50.5 billion euros, excluding its ice cream segment. Underlying sales growth landed at 3.5%, a figure that removes the impact of acquisitions, disposals, and currency fluctuations. Free cash flow reached 5.9 billion euros. The group also revealed a new 1.5 billion euro share buyback set for 2026.
In the annual report, Fernandez struck a cautious note. “Markets will likely remain subdued in 2026,” he wrote. Unilever, for its part, is still guiding for full-year underlying growth within the 4% to 6% range, but expects to land at the lower end. Volume growth should hit at least 2%, with a slight uptick in underlying operating margin as the company puts more weight behind its U.S. and India businesses. Unilever
The filing included a governance note: Unilever now anticipates Belén Garijo López, first announced as an independent non-executive director in October, will take her seat on the board in 2027. No additional information was provided.
Unilever isn’t alone under the gun. Reckitt’s stock has dropped over 6% this month, with shareholders rattled by vague outlooks. Nestle, back in February, revealed it was negotiating a sale of its last in-house ice cream unit—fresh evidence of European consumer majors shifting their portfolios toward faster-growing areas.
Developed markets still look shaky. Unilever reported just 2.8% underlying sales growth in North America for the fourth quarter, and Europe barely moved—up only 0.1%. If this slowdown drags on, emerging markets could end up shouldering more than their share, putting even the lower limit of the 2026 target at risk.
