Unilever China — Key Business Priorities & Financial Performance
A corporate-level and BU-level view of Unilever's China business, now incorporating the Q1 2026 Trading Statement released 30 April 2026 — China sustains mid-single-digit growth into a third consecutive quarter, led by Beauty & Wellbeing and Personal Care.
Geography: Greater ChinaBUs: Beauty & Wellbeing · Personal Care · Home Care · FoodsReporting period: Q1 2026 + FY 2025 · Outlook: FY 2026
● JUST RELEASED · 30 APR 2026
Q1 2026 — China Sustains Mid-Single-Digit Growth, Beats Consensus
Unilever's Q1 2026 Trading Statement (released this morning, London time) confirms the China Q4 2025 rebound is sustaining. Group beat consensus on both top-line and volume. China is now a confirmed positive contributor — three consecutive quarters of growth.
Group USG+3.8%vs 3.6% consensus · Vol +2.9% (vs 1.8% est.)
China USG+MSD3rd straight quarter of growth · driven by B&W & PC
Power Brands+5.0%Vol +4.0% · Dove & Vaseline double-digit volume-led
Asia Pac Africa+5.9%Vol +5.0% · 45% of group turnover
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"China delivered another quarter of mid-single digit growth. Performance was led by Personal Care and Beauty & Wellbeing, driven by premium innovation, growth in social commerce, and the actions taken in 2025 to transform the go-to-market approach."
— Q1 2026 Trading Statement, 30 April 2026
Q1 2026 China — What's Working
Premium Innovation
B&W + PC
Lead growth: Vaseline, Dove premium SKUs, AHC, Hourglass; Power Brand portfolio carrying.
Social Commerce
Douyin ↑
Continued progress in social and digital channels — first time CN call-out names "social commerce" as growth driver.
UFS (Food Solutions)
+LSD
Gradual improvement; better start to year on improved CNY trading + AFH consumption recovery.
2025 GTM Reset
Paid off
"Actions taken in 2025" explicitly cited by CEO as a driver — validates Chen Ge's reset.
Top 5 CEO & Management Quotes — China & Marketing
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"We are accelerating our portfolio premiumisation to drive growth in the premium and super-premium segments through innovations behind unmissably superior Power Brands."
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"We have a great innovation plan, one of the best that we have had in years, hitting the markets now."
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"We are moving at speed to build a business that drives desire at scale in our brands, execution excellence across all channels and cost discipline."
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"We have started the year well with volume-led growth driven by our Power Brands and a positive performance across all Business Groups."
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"Continue to step up innovation and sharpen execution to sustain and strengthen our competitive growth."
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"In China, performance was driven by premium innovations, improved go-to-market execution, and continued progress in social and digital channels." (China-specific commentary)
Why this matters for marketing & planning: three signals in the Q1 prepared remarks should reset planning assumptions for Q2-Q4 2026 in China. (1) Social commerce is now an explicit named growth driver — Douyin / Xiaohongshu first-party content and creator-led activations should be prioritised over discount-led platform promotions. (2) Premium innovation is doing the heavy lifting — Q2 618 plans should over-weight premium-tier SKUs (Vaseline Gluta-Hya, Dove Cleansing Foam, AHC eye cream, Hourglass) over mass cleansing/laundry. (3) The 2025 GTM reset is now public credit — Chen Ge has visible CEO sponsorship; expect further investment in lower-tier-city + small-format reach.
1Why 2025 Was a Reset Year
China is one of Unilever's "must-win" top-five markets. 2025 was the year decisive reset actions — first announced under the Growth Action Plan — landed in market.
Unilever entered 2025 in the middle of its Growth Action Plan (GAP) under CEO Fernando Fernandez, with three pillars relevant to China: concentrate spend behind 30 Power Brands, accelerate premiumisation, and rewire the go-to-market (GTM) model. China had been flagged at the end of 2024 as a market needing a structural reset alongside Indonesia, after lapping a particularly strong 2024 (which had benefited from a later Chinese New Year) and seeing soft FMCG market growth across most categories.
Three corporate-level events reshape what "Unilever China" looks like going forward and frame the priorities for the BUs.
Ice Cream Demerger
8 Dec 2025
Magnum, Wall's, Ben & Jerry's spun out as TMICC; ~€7.9bn market cap on Amsterdam debut.
+8% OEE, –15% batch cycle time, –20% waste; factory-to-consumer d-commerce model now the global benchmark.
Guangzhou Site
RMB 1.6 bn
All-category smart-manufacturing base, ramping in 2025.
2Corporate-Level Financial Performance
Group results, then the China-specific quarterly trajectory.
Q1 2026 Group Turnover
€12.6 bn
USG +3.8% (Vol +2.9%, Price +0.9%) · Reported -3.3% on FX -7.7%
Q1 2026 Power Brands
+5.0%
~78% of turnover; volume +4.0%; Dove & Vaseline double-digit
Q1 2026 Emerging Mkts
+5.7%
Vol +4.2%, Price +1.5% · India +7%, Indonesia +4%, China MSD
Q1 2026 China USG
+MSD
3rd consecutive quarter of growth · B&W & PC lead
FY 2025 Group Turnover
€50.5 bn
FY25 USG 3.5% (Vol 1.5%, Price 2.0%); Q4 +4.2%
FY 2025 China
~Flat
H2 inflection; Q4 +MSD set up Q1 2026 momentum
China's Quarterly Trajectory — Five Quarters from Decline to Sustained Growth
Q1 2025
▼ HSD
High-single-digit decline. Weakness across all categories except Foods. Tough CNY comp.
Q2 2025
≈ Flat
Sequential improvement as new GTM and portfolio actions begin to land.
Q3 2025
▲ LSD
Return to growth. Power Brands Dove, Vaseline, Lux lead.
Q4 2025
▲ MSD
Strongest quarter of 2025. B&W & PC lead; Foods still soft.
Q1 2026 ✓
▲ MSD
Sustained: Premium innovation + social commerce + 2025 GTM reset. UFS now LSD positive.
China Underlying Sales Growth — Quarterly (Indicative)
Indicative ranges based on management commentary in each trading statement (HSD ≈ –7%, MSD ≈ +5%).
Bottom line: China was approximately flat for FY 2025, but Q4 mid-single-digit growth — the strongest of the year — confirmed that the reset (GTM rewiring + premiumisation + Power Brand focus) is working, even though the underlying Chinese FMCG market remains weak.
3Strategic Priorities for Unilever China — 2025–2026
Five priorities articulated repeatedly by CEO Fernando Fernandez at the Q3 and Q4 2025 results.
Restructured GTM to serve fast-growing e-commerce (Tmall, JD, Douyin) and small-format / lower-tier-city stores. Hefei direct-to-consumer fulfilment now the global benchmark.
3
Health & Beauty Channel Focus
Disproportionate attention to H&B drugstores and online beauty platforms; innovation tailored to functional supplements, female health, scalp / hair health, dermatologically positioned skincare.
4
Unmissable Superiority via Innovation
Wonder Wash short-cycle laundry (mid-2025 launch UK / IE / China). Knorr Professional Seasoned Soy Sauce — first chef-grade soy sauce, >1m chefs adopted in months, internal UFS innovation record.
5
Operational & Digital Manufacturing
Hefei Lighthouse (FMCG industry's first WEF Lighthouse distribution centre). RMB 1.6 bn Guangzhou all-category smart-manufacturing site ramping in 2025.
4Business Unit (BU) Level Performance
Group-level FY25 figures with China-specific commentary, brand winners, and laggards. Note: Unilever does not publish a full BU-by-country P&L; commentary is drawn from the Q4 / FY 2025 announcement and management call.
China dynamics: Beauty & Wellbeing led the Q4 2025 turnaround. Vaseline delivered double-digit growth for a third consecutive year and was a meaningful driver in China, supported by premium skin-protection innovation and expanded H&B channel distribution.
Olly grew strong double-digit in China specifically, led by female-health supplements; globally surpassed US$500m in 2025. Dove hair contributed via premium serums and scalp-health propositions.
Pruning: Premium skincare brand Tatcha exited Chinese e-commerce by end-2025 (Tmall Global flagship closed; Douyin earlier), reflecting deliberate reallocation to Power Brands with stronger China fit.
China dynamics: Uneven year. Dove was the clear positive — premium body cleansing, anti-perspirant deodorant, and Whole Body Deodorant rollout localised for Chinese fragrance / skin preferences drove H2 growth.
Lifebuoy lagged in early 2025 due to underperformance in Indonesia, China & India; now repositioned with elevated skin-protection proposition. Clear (anti-dandruff) declined in China, weighed by slow mass anti-dandruff category. Lux returned to growth in H2.
Pattern: Premiumised, super-clear-benefit Power Brands grew; undifferentiated mass propositions remained pressured.
China dynamics: One of the markets where the reset was most needed — weak laundry / fabric-care category growth and intense local competition (Liby, Blue Moon, Nice Group, P&G) plus mass-tier consumer trade-down.
Hero innovation:Wonder Wash — first liquid laundry detergent for short cycles (as quick as 15 minutes) — launched in UK, IE and China in mid-April 2025, directly targeting China's preference for short washing cycles in compact / stacked machines.
Anchor portfolio: OMO (Dirt Is Good) in laundry; Comfort in fabric conditioner. 2026 priorities: Wonder Wash scale-up, premium OMO capsules / functionals, Comfort premiumisation, lower-tier-city & online GTM.
Q1 2026 turnaround: UFS in China, its largest market, delivered low-single-digit growth in Q1 2026 — a notable shift after H2 2025 declines. Supported by improved CNY trading and gradual recovery in away-from-home consumption.
2025 hero launch — Knorr Professional Seasoned Soy Sauce: First chef-grade soy sauce, addressing a US$4.2bn market. Set a UFS innovation-launch record; >1m Chinese chefs adopted within months.
Foods + McCormick combination: Announced Mar 2026, deal valued at ~$45bn. Unilever to receive $15.7bn cash + 65% combined-co equity. Synergies ~$600m annual run-rate. Excludes India/Nepal/Portugal Foods, Lifestyle Nutrition, Buavita, Lipton RTD. Close mid-2027.
KnorrHellmann'sUFS
Ice Cream (no longer reported in Unilever after 8 Dec 2025): Wall's was the primary ice-cream brand in China and contributed to the pre-demerger Ice Cream BU. After the demerger, Wall's, Magnum, Cornetto and Ben & Jerry's in China sit inside The Magnum Ice Cream Company (TMICC) — ~21% global market share, world's largest cabinet fleet (~3 million).
52026 Outlook & Putting It Together
From a difficult start, through a deliberate reset, to a credible recovery building quarter by quarter.
The 2025 → Q1 2026 Story
FY 2025: China started in -HSD decline, ended in +MSD growth (Q4). Q1 2026 (released today) confirms +MSD sustaining — third consecutive quarter of growth, led by Beauty & Wellbeing (Vaseline, Olly, Dove hair, Liquid I.V.) and Personal Care (Dove cleansing & deodorant, Lux). UFS turned positive (+LSD) in CN for the first time in several quarters, helped by improved CNY trading. Home Care +6.1% globally — the standout BU.
2026 Group Guidance — Confirmed
Group USG of 4–6% (Q1 +3.8% — slightly below mid-point but volume materially ahead of expectations at +2.9% vs. 1.8% est.). ≥2% volume growth for FY guidance now looks well underwritten. China expected to continue improving on (1) premium innovation, (2) social-commerce momentum, (3) UFS recovery. CEO: "We remain confident of delivering on our guidance for the year ahead."
Key Watchpoints for 2026
30 April 2026 — Q1 2026 Trading Statement ✓ DELIVERED
Group USG +3.8% (beat 3.6% consensus); volume +2.9% (beat 1.8% est.); China +MSD sustained; UFS turned positive in CN (+LSD); Power Brands +5.0% (vol +4.0%); Dove + Vaseline double-digit volume.
2026 Wonder Wash & Knorr Soy Sauce scale-up
Two flagship 2025 innovations move from launch to scaled-distribution mode in China.
H1 2026 Guangzhou ramp-up
RMB 1.6 bn all-category smart-manufacturing site reaches full operations.
Mid-2027 — Foods / McCormick close
Subject to McCormick shareholder & regulatory approvals. Post-close: Unilever China is a pure-play Beauty & Wellbeing + Personal Care + Home Care business.
62026 China — Deep Dive on Local Intelligence
Q1 2026 results released today (30 April 2026) confirm China is now sustaining mid-single-digit growth — the third consecutive quarter of positive USG. Combined with the FY 2025 results (12 Feb 2026), the Foods + McCormick combination ($45bn, announced March 2026), and China-local newsflow on unilever.com.cn, the consolidated 2026 China picture is now richer and more positive than at any point in the last 18 months.
Q1 2026 China USG ✓
+MSD
Third consecutive quarter of growth (Q3 2025 LSD → Q4 2025 MSD → Q1 2026 MSD). Beats H2 2025 guide.
UFS in CN — its largest market — turned positive after H2 2025 declines. Improved CNY trading + AFH recovery.
CN Strategic Position
Premium B&W
"Key target market for premium B&W international expansion" (CEO Fernandez, FY 2025 + Q1 2026 commentary)
A. Leadership in China — Chen Ge era
Unilever's Greater China business is led by Chen Ge (陈戈) as President, effective 15 August 2024, succeeding Qu Wei (瞿巍). Chen joined from FrieslandCampina China, brings 20+ years of consumer-goods experience, and is described in Chinese press as having an "entrepreneurial, transformational" style with a sharp focus on digitalization and direct-to-consumer. Globally, this sits inside CEO Fernando Fernandez's wider executive shake-up: Unilever announced a 25% top-200 leadership refresh, a new 4-Business-Group president structure, and 44 business units worldwide in 2025–2026.
For China specifically, Chen has publicly emphasised three messages in his media engagements through late 2024 and 2025: (1) Unilever will continue to invest deeply in China; (2) the China agenda is to accelerate premiumisation and lean into Beauty & Wellbeing as the lead growth vector; (3) the GTM model needs to be rebuilt around social-first demand creation, DTC, and Douyin-led discovery, plus better lower-tier-city and small-format reach.
B. China Capacity & Operational Footprint — 2025/26 milestones
Guangzhou Full-Category Food Factory · Aug 2025
Unilever's first all-category food factory in China went into operation in Guangzhou in August 2025. Phase II of the South-China production base. Total investment: RMB 1.6 billion — Unilever's largest single CN investment in recent years.
Built on global Lighthouse practice: integrated smart-management system covering demand tracking, production execution, warehouse management, quality control and operations optimisation; full ERP integration; 100% end-to-end traceability. The co-located logistics warehouse uses 4-way shuttles, AGVs, lifts, ASRS and goods-to-person stations — receiving and dispatch capacity is up 60% versus the prior site.
Existing CN Lighthouses
Hefei (Anhui) — Beauty & Wellbeing, Personal Care, Home Care + tea. The FMCG industry's first WEF Lighthouse distribution centre; +8% OEE, –15% batch-cycle time, –20% waste; factory-to-consumer d-commerce model now Unilever's global benchmark.
Douyin has overtaken Tmall in beauty conversion velocity. By early 2026, Douyin — with 780M monthly active users — accounts for 29% of China's online beauty sales. Beauty-related Douyin GMV is growing +34% YoY. Tmall still rewards depth, brand equity and structured conversion; Douyin rewards content velocity, creator ecosystems and impulse-friendly discovery.
Douyin beauty top-of-stack: KANS, Proya, L'Oréal, Helena Rubinstein, Guyu — local C-beauty leads on Douyin.
Implication for Unilever: Vaseline, Dove premium SKUs, AHC and Hourglass need to fight for share-of-voice on Douyin where local C-beauty (KANS, Proya, Florasis) own the conversation; Tmall remains a fit for the prestige sub-portfolio (Hourglass, Tatcha — though Tatcha exited CN e-com end-2025 — Dermalogica). Unilever's stated 2026 GTM priority is social-first demand creation and Douyin in particular.
E. CN Macro Backdrop & Headwinds for 2026
Despite the Q4 2025 rebound, the underlying Chinese FMCG market is still soft. Mainland Chinese trade-press analysis (CBNData, 21财经, 界面) repeatedly flags four pressure points:
Mass categories trading down — local C-beauty (Proya, Florasis, KANS) and laundry (Liby, Blue Moon, Nice Group) keep gaining share. Unilever's mid-tier mass propositions (Lifebuoy/Shield, Clear) under sustained pressure.
Foodservice traffic still weak — UFS continued to decline through H2 2025 due to restaurant traffic; Unilever expects UFS in CN to improve in 2026, but the macro signal is mixed.
Local C-beauty is now the disruptor of choice — Tmall & Douyin Double 11 leaderboards confirm local players have pricing power Unilever's mass Personal Care doesn't.
Cost-out program impact — Unilever's Growth Action Plan (announced Oct 2023) targeted ~€800m in cost savings 2024–2026 via business focus, divestments (ekaterra tea, Pureit/Qinyuan, ice cream demerger, Foods/McCormick), and 7,500 redundancies. Execution is largely on track but creates near-term distraction.
F. Q1 2026 China — Now Reported (released 30 Apr 2026)
Result vs. expectations: Group beat consensus (3.8% actual vs. 3.6% est.); volume materially beat (2.9% vs. 1.8% est.). For China specifically: mid-single-digit growth — the bull case landed.
Q1 2026 — China actual
+MSD ✓
3rd consecutive quarter of growth. B&W & PC lead. UFS turned positive (+LSD).
Group Q1 2026
+3.8%
Vol +2.9% / Price +0.9%. Beat consensus on both.
Power Brands Q1
+5.0%
Vol +4.0%. Dove + Vaseline double-digit volume.
EM Q1 2026
+5.7%
India +7%, Indonesia +4%, China MSD, LatAm vol returning.
What the company said about China specifically (Q1 2026 prepared remarks): "China delivered another quarter of mid-single digit growth. Performance was led by Personal Care and Beauty & Wellbeing, driven by premium innovation, growth in social commerce, and the actions taken in 2025 to transform the go-to-market approach." UFS also called out as a positive: "better start to the year in China, its largest market, with low-single digit growth supported by improved trading over the Chinese New Year period and gradual improvement in away-from-home consumption."
CNY 2026 base effect: Q1 2025 was a -HSD comparator due to a particularly strong Q1 2024 lapping. Q1 2026 benefits from this favourable base on top of underlying momentum — the +MSD print is therefore both real growth and partially base-effect amplified. Watch Q2 for cleaner read.
G. 2026 China Strategic Calendar
8 Jan 2026 — FY 2025 Pre-close aide-mémoire
Issued; no profit warning, signals confidence in FY 2025 H2 China rebound.
12 Feb 2026 — Q4 / FY 2025 Results
China FY25 flat, Q4 mid-single-digit growth, premium B&W positioned as #1 priority for CN. CEO Fernando Fernandez calls China "key target market for premium B&W international expansion".
Early 2026 — Foods + McCormick announcement
Unilever Foods (Knorr, Hellmann's, UFS) to combine with McCormick. Close mid-2027.
Jan–Apr 2026 — unilever.com.cn news cadence
Multiple CN press releases; 22 Jan, 16 Jan, 25 Feb 2026. CN entity is actively communicating.
Group +3.8% USG (beat 3.6% consensus); China +MSD (3rd consecutive growth quarter); B&W and PC lead; UFS turned positive (+LSD) in CN; "social commerce" first explicitly cited as China growth driver.
Q2 2026 — 618 Festival
Major test of Vaseline / AHC / Dove premium positioning on Tmall + Douyin. Local C-beauty likely to dominate Douyin top of stack again.
Annual benchmark for Beauty share-of-voice on Tmall + Douyin.
Mid-2027 — Foods / McCormick close
Knorr 家乐, Hellmann's 好乐门, UFS 联合利华饮食策划 transfer out of Unilever.
Bottom line for 2026 China — confirmed by Q1: The story is premium Beauty & Wellbeing + Personal Care carrying the company, with Home Care holding and UFS now turning positive. Chen Ge's 2025 GTM reset is now publicly credited by the CEO as a Q1 growth driver. "Social commerce" appears for the first time in Q1 2026 China commentary as a named growth driver — that's a planning signal: Douyin / Xiaohongshu first-party content + creator-led activation should be over-weighted vs. discount-led platform promotions through 618 and Double 11. Premium SKUs (Vaseline Gluta-Hya, Dove Cleansing Foam, AHC, Hourglass) are doing the heavy lifting and should anchor festival plans.
7Unilever China — Full Brand Portfolio
Every operating brand by BU, with the brand mark, China-specific scale data, key SKUs, and citations. Brand marks are typographic renderings in each brand's own colour system; click the source link below each card to verify.
Beauty & Wellbeing
Personal Care
Home Care
Foods
Ice Cream (demerged Dec 2025 → TMICC)
Divested
Beauty & Wellbeing 美妆与健康
Dove
Dove · 多芬
Hair Care (B&W) + Skin Cleansing & Deodorants (PC)
Global FY25: high-single-digit growth in PC, double-digit in Hair
China: Power Brand; led Q4 2025 rebound; double-digit Skin Cleansing & Deodorant growth in H2
CN hero SKU: Dove Cleansing Foam (洁面泡泡) — 2× sales growth over the past year
Key SKUs: Scalp + Hair Therapy serum, Whole Body Deo, Body Wash, Bar Soap, Cleansing Foam 洁面泡泡
Caveat on data: Unilever does not publish brand-level revenue or volume by country. Figures cited above are sourced from (a) Unilever's investor reports and Q1–Q4 2025 trading statements, (b) unilever.com.cn, (c) Chinese trade press (CBO, 华丽志, 新浪财经, ChemLinked, Daxue Consulting), and (d) Unilever's own thought-leadership ("Inside our markets: Unilever in China"). Where a number exists at global level only, that is what is shown — China-specific qualitative scale (e.g. "#1 in Body Care") is taken from Unilever's own statements.
Sources
All data points sourced from Unilever's official investor communications and reputable trade press. Q1 2026 sources are listed first. Click any link to open the original source.
