By Yadarisa Shabong
Feb 12 (Reuters) - Unilever warned on Thursday that 2026 sales growth would come in at the bottom end of its forecast range after a slowdown in the U.S. and Europe, even as emerging
markets delivered a fourth-quarter sales beat.
After spinning off The Magnum Ice Cream Company in December, CEO Fernando Fernandez - who took over in March 2025 - is under pressure to show that Unilever's emphasis on personal care, beauty and wellbeing, which now account for more than half of turnover, is a winning strategy.
The maker of Dove soaps and Hellmann's mayonnaise said it expects 2026 underlying sales growth at the lower end of its 4% to 6% multi-year guidance range due to softer market conditions.
Even so, Unilever said it expects a "modest" improvement to the 20% profit margin reported for 2025 and unveiled a new 1.5 billion euros ($1.8 billion) share buyback programme.
Its shares were down 1% in early trading.
SLOWING U.S. AND EUROPE
Barclays analysts said in a note last month that 2026 would be "the acid test" for Unilever without the distractions of the Magnum Ice Cream spin-off and abrupt CEO change seen in the first half of last year.
Fourth-quarter underlying sales growth beat expectations, coming in at 4.2% versus the 3.9% forecast in a company-compiled poll. Emerging markets such as India, Indonesia and China continued to drive growth.
But there are concerns that emerging markets may not provide enough support if developed-market growth keeps slowing.
In North America, sales growth eased to 2.8% in the quarter, though Unilever said it continued to gain market share. Sales in Europe edged up 0.1%.
Both regions slowed from the third quarter.
Annual underlying operating profit dipped 1.1% to 10.1 billion euros, broadly matching market expectations of 10.12 billion euros.
($1 = 0.8425 euros)
(Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru. Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Mark Potter)
