Unilever Chief: We Were Right to Increase Prices In UK

Unilever’s underlying sales were up 3.7%, and net profits grew 5.5% to €5.5bn (£4.7bn) – although currency changes meant revenues fell 1% to €52.7bn (£44.8bn).

Polman was asked on a conference call this morning whether he regretted the company’s public face-off with Tesco over its decision to demand higher prices from the retailer, after the falling pound increased some of its production costs.

He said: "The decision to increase prices in the UK was definitely the right one. We’ve seen a 20% decrease in the value of the pound, and we have to look at the effects of the long-term currency changes, otherwise you end up being unsustainable. You now see many others in the industry doing what we’ve done."

Polman was dismissive of the tendency of the media to make a big deal of stories about prices going up and pack sizes going down – such as the revelation that Mondelez was changing the familiar shape of Toblerone to cut costs. Polman said: "There’s nothing new here – we should get used to it."

Reproduced courtesy of Campaign Magazine

ABC Comment: Shrinking portion sizes is a way that food price inflation is being hidden. The sorry case of Fish Fingers now reduced to what some would say are childrens sizes is very sad. The once mighty Yorkie bar - alledged to keep truckers going. Today the once mighty chunk of chocolate is a shadow of its former self.