Unilever launched a 1.5 billion euro ($1.6 billion) share buyback on Thursday after volumes increased for the first time in 10 quarters, although its CEO said its performance needs to improve.
Unilever's shares rose as much as 4% on Thursday, hitting their highest point since it last reported earnings in October.
Unilever said it expects "modest improvement" in underlying operating margin for the full year and underlying sales growth within its multi-year 3% to 5% range.
The company reported a roughly 5% rise in fourth-quarter underlying sales, meeting analysts' average forecast, a company-provided consensus showed.
Underlying fourth quarter price growth was 2.8% and underlying volumes were up 1.8%, rising for the first time since the second quarter of 2021.
Persons:
Hein Schumacher, Charlie Huggins, Huggins
Organizations:
Unilever, Wealth
Locations:
Russia, Ukraine