Unilever (LON:ULVR) announced a hefty dividend hike on Thursday alongside a 6 billion euro share buyback, as disagreements between management and shareholders continue.
The group confirmed it had seen “broad-based growth” throughout the quarter, raising its quarterly payout to shareholders by 8 per cent to €0.3872. Management has faced serious shareholder opposition to its decision to move its headquarters to Rotterdam, with investors worried about the likely exclusion of the company from the FTSE 100 on the back of the move.
Unilever also announced plans to start buying back 6 billion worth of shares starting next month, using funds from the sale of its spreads division.
Household goods maker Unilever reported underlying sales growth, excluding spreads, of 3.7 percent in the first quarter, totalling 12.6 billion euros. Volume growth stood at 3.6 percent and price growth at 0.1 percent.
Paul Polman, the group’s chief executive officer, commented: “The first quarter demonstrates another good volume-driven performance across all three divisions. The broad-based growth, including over 4 percent volume growth in emerging markets, shows that the ‘Connected 4 Growth’ programme is working and enhancing our long-term compounding growth model.
“We are further improving the quality and speed of our global and local innovation as a result of a more agile, consumer-facing organisation. At the same time, we are maintaining strong delivery from our savings programmes and expecting to complete the exit from spreads in the middle of the year.”
For the full year, the company expects underlying sales growth in the 3 percent to 5 percent range.
Shares in Unilever are currently trading down 0.23 percent at 3,937.50 (0811GMT).
