CONTEMPORARY CORPORATE REPORTING

Contemporary Corporate Reporting Assignment

Table of Contents

Part A: Financial Analysis of Unilever Foods UK3

Introduction3

Financial Analysis of Unilever Foods UK4

Ratio Analysis5

Profitability Ratios5

Liquidity Ratios6

Asset Management Ratios6

Debt Management Ratios7

Per Share or Investor Ratios7

Stock Analysis of Unilever Foods PLC8

Conclusion & Recommendations10

Part B: Corporate Communication11

Corporate Communications11

The key areas of corporate communications12

Communications Objectives13

Corporate Communication Theories13

Unilever Plc Communication Strategy14

Conclusion16

References17

Appendices18

Appendix 118

Appendix 219

Appendix 321

Appendix 422

Contemporary Corporate Reporting Assignment

Part A: Financial Analysis of Unilever Foods UK

Introduction

Unilever UK Foods is a division of Unilever, which offers various consumer goods for sale. The company's food products offerings range from tea, margarine, soup mixes, and sauces under such well known brands as PG Tips, Bovril, Coleman's, Flora, Hellmann's, Knorr, Walls, Marmite, Pot Noodle, Scottish Blend, and Bertolli. Unilever Foods home care products include the popular laundry detergent, Persil. Bar soaps such as Dove and Lux, and Vaseline are among the company's home-care brands offerings. Unilever UK Foods (Unilever Foods) was established as Unilever Bestfoods in 2001 when Unilever merged with Bestfoods. Subsequently, the food business of Unilever was named as Unilever Bestfoods. Following the merger, the company sold Bestfoods US baking subsidiary in 2001. The company disposed Unifoods South Africa and Hudson & Knight South Africa to Unilever Bestfoods Robertsons, a joint venture between Unilever and Robertsons, in 2003.

In the same year, the companies formed a joint venture, Pepsi Lipton International, with Pepsi, to market and distribute ready-to-drink tea in international markets outside North America. Also in 2003, Unilever sold its Ambrosia and Brown & Polson businesses to Unilever Foods. In late 2004, Unilever announced that Unilever Bestfoods' operations in UK would be renamed as Unilever UK Foods. Unilever Bestfoods' operations in Ireland were renamed as Unilever Ireland Foods during the same period. Unilever Foods launched low calorie carb diet range in 2005, by extending its SlimFast brand. During the same time, Unilever Foods was notified by a supplier (Unilever Foods) that there was an issue concerning possible contamination of worcester sauce with sudan 1 dye. Following that, the company recalled some of its products from the market. The company recalled selected packs of Flora Original Spread, as they were detected with the presence of an undesirable flavor, in 2006. Unilever Foods launched Flora Omega 3 Plus mini drink in late 2006.

Financial Analysis of Unilever Foods UK

Unilever is in solid financial health and should be able to service its debt without any financial strain on its business. At the end of 2010, Unilever's total debt amounted to EUR 9.6 billion (debt/capital of 0.4) and operating earnings covered interest expense 14 times. We forecast debt/capital of 0.4 on average through 2015 and earnings before interest and taxes to cover interest expense 12 times. We give Unilever an issuer credit rating of A+. The financial performance of Unilever plc shows that the major portion of the company's assets is comprised of liabilities, which is not a good indication for the company as the company's short term and the long term debts are increasing. However, the company's equity seems good or satisfactory but it should be high as ...