London, March 2, 2026, 09:07 GMT — Regular trading in progress.
Unilever (ULVR.L) slipped 0.7% to 5,429 pence in early trading Monday, caught in the wider risk-off tone as crude surged on renewed Middle East conflict. Shares in the Dove soap parent fell 38 pence from Friday’s finish, after notching a low of 5,408 pence.
European shares dropped sharply, pressured by a broad retreat that saw money moving toward energy and defence, while travel stocks took a hit. The STOXX 600 was down 1.8% as of 0812 GMT. Shell, BP, and TotalEnergies all jumped over 5% on the back of soaring oil prices.
Brent crude climbed 9.5% to $79.78 a barrel by 0748 GMT, after jumping up to 13% earlier in the morning as shipping in the Strait of Hormuz faced disruptions. U.S. crude was up 8.8% at $72.90.
Oil market watchers are zeroed in on traffic through the strait—if flows keep dropping, that’s what matters. “The key factor here is the closing of the Strait of Hormuz,” said Ajay Parmar, director of energy and refining at ICIS. If the outage isn’t resolved, he sees prices opening much closer to $100 a barrel. Reuters
Here’s the tricky bit for equity investors: you can’t easily plug an energy shock into the models, especially one that threatens to stoke inflation as growth wobbles. “Unless de-escalation signals emerge swiftly, we expect a significant upward repricing of oil,” said Jorge Leon at Rystad Energy. OPEC+ is sticking to only a modest bump in output from April. Reuters
Rising fuel and freight prices push up packaging and distribution costs for consumer goods companies. Expensive energy, too, puts extra pressure on household spending. Unilever, a name usually seen as a defensive play in volatile markets, finds that reputation tested whenever the inflation backdrop shifts.
Back in February, Unilever signaled its 2026 underlying sales growth was on track to come in at the lower end of the 4% to 6% forecast, citing weaker momentum in the US and Europe. The consumer goods giant also rolled out a 1.5 billion euro share buyback plan to reduce its share count. RBC Capital Markets’ James Edwardes Jones noted there were “signs of progress,” though he cautioned that improvement would “take time.” Reuters
Income-minded investors were watching the dividend dates. Unilever’s ordinary shares lost their dividend eligibility on Feb. 26, so anyone buying after that misses out on the next payout. The company has scheduled the Q4 2025 dividend for payment on April 10, according to its published timetable.
Even so, the main threat for now sits elsewhere. A pause in fighting could send tankers back and quickly erase oil’s risk premium, letting defensives rebound along with the market. But if turmoil drags on, the company could get hit with both rising costs and shrinking volumes.
Tanker flows and insurance bills near Hormuz remain on the radar, crude front and center. Unilever’s next set piece: Q1 2026 trading numbers due April 30.
