LONDON — Hein Schumacher, Unilever’s recent chief executive officer, wants the patron giant to seize market share with breakthrough technologies, “superior” products and a laser give attention to the patron, he said in the course of the group’s first-half results presentation Tuesday.

Schumacher, a Dutch national and former CEO of Royal FrieslandCampina, a world dairy and nutrition business, left few unsure about his ambitions for the parent of brands equivalent to Dove, Vaseline, Hellmann’s and Ben & Jerry’s.  

Since he stepped into the role three weeks ago, Schumacher has been traveling the world, meeting stakeholders, and hammering out his strategy for the patron giant, which revealed a healthy 2.7 percent uptick in first-half turnover to 30.4 billion euros.

Underlying sales were up 9.1 percent as a result of price moderately than volume growth as high input costs proceed to bite.

In his debut presentation to analysts, the straight-talking Schumacher said that research and development, and higher quality products, are key to the corporate’s future success. 

“I would like to get much closer to the way in which that we resource our big brands, and to land innovations that basically move the needle. We’d like to be certain that we’re investing consistently in high-quality, focused, and science-backed innovation.”

RBC Capital Markets said the R&D announcement was unconventional.

“We felt that recent CEO Hein Schumacher got here across well,” the bank wrote. “We liked what we heard concerning the prioritization of R&D, something of an untried tactic in our consumer staples universe, but one which we feel should work well.”

Overall, the bank described the outcomes as an “excellent sign-off” by former CEO Alan Jope, noting that sales, EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) and EPS (earnings per share) “comfortably” beat expectations.

In his presentation, Schumacher added that quality is non-negotiable. 

“I would like to see more of our products performing higher than the competition. Our brands needs to be winning superiority tests week in and week out. And once they should not, we should always be taking decisive motion. On this industry, the patron at all times has the ultimate say, and which means it’s paramount to take a position behind holistic product quality,” he said.

He made the remarks as Unilever disclosed that its market share is dwindling. Within the second quarter, the proportion of business gaining market share was 41 percent, the second-lowest competitiveness percentage ever disclosed by the company giant, based on Bernstein. 

“To be losing market share nearly 60 percent of the time is a really bad performance, and rightly Hein Schumacher’s top priority,” wrote Bruno Monteyne of Bernstein. “What sort of margin investment and cultural change will it take to get back to brands that gain market share?”

Jefferies noted that while Unilever’s half-year growth was ahead of expectations, “the share of the business winning market share on a rolling 12-month basis has fallen to 41 percent, from 48 percent in Q1.”

Schumacher also tackled Unilever’s sustainability strategy head-on.

Former CEO Jope continuously got here under fire from shareholders for putting sustainability over profit, and it’s clear that Schumacher desires to reprioritize the corporate’s goals.

On his watch, Unilever will sharpen its sustainability agenda and give attention to fewer goals. 

Sustainability, he said, is an “vital differentiating strength for our business, and it is going to proceed under my tenure. It’s vital that we focus our efforts more on our big priorities, like reducing greenhouse gas emissions; our plastic packaging footprint; and protecting and restoring nature. These are the areas where we are able to have essentially the most positive and differentiating impact,” Schumacher said. 

All of those ideas are only a taste of what’s to return as Schumacher plans to put out his full strategy in the course of the third-quarter results presentation in October.

But it surely was enough to spice up the share price, which closed up nearly 5 percent at 42 kilos on the London Stock Exchange.

Between now and October the brand new CEO told analysts that he’ll “proceed to listen and to learn. But I’m already clear that we’d like to maneuver with pace as we set the plans that can help to unlock the potential of this business. I’ll work with my executive team — and beyond — to agree the actions required to boost our game.”

Schumacher began his profession at Unilever, within the financial department, and has previously worked at corporations including H.J. Heinz, where he spent 10 years and oversaw the restructuring of that company in Asia Pacific.

He was named a non-executive director of Unilever in 2022, and was appointed CEO earlier this yr. As reported, he’ll earn a base salary of 1.85 million euros, and be entitled to annual bonus and shareholder awards. 

Schumacher addressed analysts following the discharge of the primary half results.

In the primary half, sales in the sweetness and well-being division rose 8.6 percent to six.2 billion euros while personal care was up 7.3 percent to six.9 billion euros compared with the corresponding period last yr. 

The corporate noted that the prestige health and beauty and well-being brands delivered further volume-led, double-digit growth. 

In prestige, Paula’s Alternative, Dermalogica and Hourglass delivered “strong” growth supported by recent, research-backed product launches, equivalent to Dermalogica’s Phyto Nature Oxygen Cream. 

In health and well-being, Unilever said that Liquid I.V. continued to perform well. The corporate has recently launched three sugar-free variants of its hydration technology “without compromise on flavor or function.” 

Cost inflation has been a serious driver of price and sales increases because the pandemic, but Unilever reiterated that the trend is slowing. Cost inflation — with a number of exceptions — is on a downward trajectory. 

Unilever said its expectation for net material inflation for 2023 is around 2 billion euros, of which 0.4 billion euros is anticipated within the second half with sales volumes recovering because the months go on. 

Going forward, Schumacher noted that there would proceed to be “pockets of high volatility and fluctuations in grain and food pricing” as a result of droughts and the war in Ukraine, but the general trend is positive. 

Unilever’s net profit for the half yr rose 20.7 percent to three.9 billion euros, bolstered partly by disposals. Most recently, it sold the Suave brand within the U.S. Last yr, it sold the tea division to CVC Capital Partners Fund VIII.

The corporate said it’s expecting underlying sales growth for the complete yr to be “above 5 percent,” which is ahead of its multiyear range.

The corporate said it’s expecting a “modest improvement” in underlying operating margin for the complete yr, reflecting higher gross margin and increased investment behind its brands.