Key Takeaways
- Unilever is a global consumer goods company, offering beauty and wellness, personal care, home care, and food products.
- The Personal Care segment of the business generated the most revenue and sales growth.
- In 2025, Unilever made a net profit of €6.2 billion. It generated €50.5 billion in revenue.
- In March 2026, Unilever separated its foods business through a merger with McCormick to reshape itself as a more focused home and personal care company.
Unilever PLC (UL) is a consumer goods holding company headquartered in the United Kingdom. Through its subsidiaries, the company manufactures and sells products relating to beauty and wellness, personal care, home care, and food.
Unilever owns more than 400 brands in 190 countries. Some of those brands include popular names like Axe, Dove, Vaseline, Knorr, Hellmann’s, TRESemme, Nutrafol, and Sunlight.
In order to compete in the highly competitive global consumer goods market, Unilever has structured its business model around building well-known, high-quality brands that consumers trust. Some of the company’s major rivals include Switzerland-based Nestlé S.A. (NESN), Procter & Gamble Co. (PG), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), PepsiCo Inc. (PEP), and Colgate-Palmolive Co. (CL).
Unilever’s Financials
For its 2025 fiscal year (FY), Unilever reported a net profit from continuing operations of €6.2 billion, a 2.9% increase over the prior year. Revenue, which the company calls “turnover” and defines as sales of goods after deducting discounts, sales taxes, and estimated returns, dropped 3.8% to €50.5 billion. Operating profit for the period was €9.03 billion, up 2.4% from the previous year. Turnover, also referred to as “overall turnover,” is a commonly used term in Europe and Asia.
Unilever’s underlying sales growth (USG), which excludes the impact of acquisitions, disposals, currency fluctuations, and excessive price growth in hyperinflationary economies, was an average of 3.5% for its four segments in fiscal year 2025.
USG was driven by all sales groups, and the improvement in underlying operating profit was due to input cost inflation. The high global inflationary environment, which increased prices, helped sales growth but negatively impacted volume growth, which decreased to 1.5% from 3.1%.
Unilever’s Business Segments
Unilever has four main business segments: Beauty & Wellbeing, Personal Care, Home Care, and Foods. It provides a breakdown of revenue (i.e., turnover) and underlying operating profit for each of these segments.
Beauty & Wellbeing
The company’s Beauty & Wellbeing segment is responsible for sales of products in the categories of Hair Care, Skin Care, Prestige Beauty, and Wellbeing.
For fiscal year 2025, turnover for the segment was €12.85 billion with underlying sales growth of 4.3%. This segment contributed 25.44% to the company’s total turnover. The underlying operating profit (UOP) was €2.47 billion, making up 24.5% of the €10.1 billion total UOP.
Personal Care
The company’s Personal Care segment consists of the following product categories: Skin Cleansing, Deodorant, and Oral Care.
For fiscal year 2025, turnover for the segment was €13.16 billion with sales growth of 4.7%. This segment contributed 26.06% to the company’s total turnover. The underlying operating profit (UOP) was €2.97 billion, making up 29.41% of the €10.1 billion total UOP.
Home Care
The Home Care segment is primarily comprised of sales from Fabric Cleaning, Fabric Enhancers, and Home & Hygiene products.
For fiscal year 2025, turnover for the segment was €11.57 billion with sales growth of 2.6%. This segment contributed 22.9% to the company’s total turnover. The underlying operating profit (UOP) was €1.72 billion, making up 17.03% of the €10.1 billion total UOP.
Foods
The Foods segment primarily consists of the following products: Condiments, Cooking Aids & Mini Meals, and Unilever Food Solutions.
For fiscal year 2025, turnover for the segment was €12.93 billion with sales growth of 2.5%. This segment contributed 25.6% to the total turnover. The underlying operating profit (UOP) was €2.92 billion, making up 28.91% of the €10.1 billion total UOP.
Unilever’s Recent Developments
• In March 2026, Unilever announced the merger of Unilever Foods and McCormick to create a powerful business that will offer a noteworthy range of high-quality, well-known food products. The new business will operate under the name McCormick and is expected to generate revenue of $20 billion. The separation of Unilever Foods underscores Unilever’s strategy to reshape itself into a more focused home and personal care (HPC) company with keener capabilities for “science-led innovation, demand creation, and operational execution.” McCormick’s CEO and CFO will lead the new company, supported by Unilever Foods’ senior management.
• In February 2026, Unilever shared news of its planned five-year collaboration with Google Cloud intended to drive Unilever’s strategy to speed up and sharpen its consumer goods business transformation for greater growth and efficiency. It will use Google Cloud’s artificial intelligence Vertex AI platform, data, and marketing technologies to accelerate its capabilities in brand discovery, measurement, and AI-enhanced marketing. This will position the company to take advantage of the consumer shift to conversational and agentic shopping.
Does Unilever Pay a Dividend?
Yes, Unilever pays a dividend. In 2025, it paid quarterly dividends that totaled €1.58 for the year.
What Is Unilever’s Business Strategy?
Unilever states that it aims for sustainable growth based on four strategic choices:
- Deliver absolute profit growth in line with the top 1/3 total shareholder return, driven by volume growth and gross margin.
- We are accelerating Unilever’s transformation in three key ways: Desire at Scale, Play to Win, and Fit for AI Age.
- We are sharpening our focus on strategic growth opportunities to support long-term value creation.
- Protecting and enhancing the value of our business through innovation, operational efficiency, and long-term resilience.
What Is the Fastest-Growing Piece of Unilever’s Business?
Personal Care was Unilever’s fastest-growing category, with underlying sales growth at 4.7% in 2025.
How Has Unilever’s Stock Performed in Recent Years?
Over the five years ending April 8, 2026, Unilever’s stock has fallen by 5.59%.
The Bottom Line
Unilever is a diversified consumer goods holding company. It makes its money through the sale of products across a range of categories, including beauty and wellbeing, personal care, home care, and foods. This diversified portfolio helps the company weather volatility and grow profits over time. In March of 2026, Unilever announced that it was separating its food business through a merger with McCormick.