Unilever PLC

Hello and welcome to Unilever's Half One 2023 results webcast. For those participating on the conference call, you may indicate your desire to ask a question at any time during the presentation by clicking on the raise hand icon at the bottom of your screen. If you would like to withdraw your question, please click on the hand icon again. When it is your turn to ask a question, your name will be called out and you may go ahead with your question. If you require assistance at any time, please put a message in the chat box. We would like Now to hand over to Richard Williams, Unilever's Head of Investor Relations, to begin the presentation. Thank you.

Good morning and welcome to Unilever's half-year results update. All of today's webcast is available live transcribed on the screen. First, can I draw your attention to the disclaimer relating to forward-looking statements and non-GAAP measures. Now to start today, our new CEO, Hein Schumacher, will share some initial impressions and then he will hand over to Graham to update you on our performance and to take you through the results. Graham will also share the outlook. We will then leave time to take your questions. With that said, it's my pleasure to hand over to you, Hein.

Thank you, Richard, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. I'm Hein Schumacher, and by way of introduction, I thought I would share a little bit about myself and why I joined Unilever and some of my first impressions. I took up the position of CEO of Unilever three weeks ago, so it's still early days. Why Unilever? Well, look, firstly, it is a great industry and I've spent my whole career in or around consumer goods and in roles that took me from Europe to North America, China and Southeast Asia. And I love the speed with which you see results, the intense competition in consumer goods, the importance of quality and innovation, and the fact that everything needs to come together seamlessly to succeed. It all needs to tick and tie. and the inescapable truth that in the end, obviously, the consumer has the final say. And across my career, I've accumulated a lot of experiences which are relevant to the significant opportunity we have had, and that is to step up our performance and realize the full potential of Unilever. And I am in no doubt that Unilever's strong fundamentals give us an excellent platform from which to do it. I believe we have a fantastic portfolio of brands. We have an unmatched geographic footprint and reach in emerging markets. We have talented people who are committed to delivering top-class performance. And we are leaders in addressing the key sustainability issues which are going to shape a large part of the industry's future. My first impressions and experiences since joining Unilever have only confirmed this. And in my first weeks, I visited our priority markets, the US, India, and China. I've been in our R&D laboratories with our scientists. In fact, I spent quite a bit of time there. I've been in brand discussions with our marketers and looked at how our brands show up in key retail channels. And I've lifted the lid on some of the opportunities and issues that we face in digital and sustainability. And while doing this, I've met a good cross-section of our key talent. I've also seen how our new organization is taking shape. It is embracing agility and demanding accountability and bringing the category focus and expertise that's required in this industry. All in all, I've been impressed by a lot of what I've seen. But at the same time, it's clear that there is a real opportunity to step up our performance and competitiveness and drive significant value creation ahead. And there are some areas which I already think warrant further focus and attention. Let me give you a flavor. First, I would want to get much closer to the way that we resource our big brands and land innovations, which really move the needle with consumers and drive category value. We need to be sure that we are investing in these consistently. and that these are supported by a high-quality, focused and science-backed innovation pipeline, hence the importance in my induction of R&D. Secondly, I want to see more of our products performing better than the competition. Our brands should be winning superiority tests week in, week out. And when they are not, we should be taking decisive action. And as I said, in this industry, the consumer always has the final say. And that means it's paramount to invest behind holistic product quality. Thirdly, it's critical that we finish the job of fully embedding our new organization. We have made great progress, but there is opportunity to push the principles of the new operating model further and strengthen, in particular, the performance culture, which is, in my experience, a hallmark of truly successful companies. And fourthly, I'd like us to sharpen our focus on our sustainability agenda. And to be clear, I am highly supportive of Unilever's sustainability leadership. As the world faces mounting environmental and social challenges, this is an important differentiating strength for our business, and it will continue under my tenor. Nevertheless, it's important that we focus our efforts more on our big priorities, like reducing greenhouse gas emissions, our plastic packaging, These are the most material to our business, and these are the areas where we can have the most positive and differentiating impact. So to reiterate, this is only a flavor on what's on my mind, and just after three weeks in the role, and I'm in the initial stages of really getting into the issues and connecting the dots. I will continue to listen and to learn, but I'm already clear that we need to move with pace as we set the plans that will help to unlock the potential of this business. And from here, I'm going to visit more of our key markets, listen to consumers, customers, and other key stakeholders along the way. And I will work with my executive team and beyond, of course, to agree the actions required to raise our game. I will share a more complete set of observations and thoughts when we present our quarter three results in October. And in the meantime, the priority for the business is to execute our growth plans brilliantly and to build on the momentum of the recent quarters. And with that, let me hand over to Graham, who will take you through the first half year results.