MUST READ..... (BN) Unilever CEO Polman Says Emerging Market Slowdown to Last Y

Key story - Unilever is THE EMG company of the world. The move from "nominal growth" to "quality growth" is on - I saw it recently first hand in Indonesia, but even in Middle East.

Currencies only way they can "adjust" short-term - and in equity space the EMG earners should come under some pressure and soon... Likewise and properly better play is to short the French Luxury makers - and CAC40 direct. Short Luxury and short France - both trades is definitely high on my 2014 list.


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(BN) Unilever CEO Polman Says Emerging Market Slowdown to Last Y ears

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BFW 12/02 10:19 Unilever CEO Polman Says Emerging Market Slowdown to Last Years


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Unilever CEO Polman Says Emerging Market Slowdown to Last Years
2013-12-02 10:14:32.71 GMT


By Albertina Torsoli
Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Unilever Chief Executive Officer Paul Polman said the economic slowdown in emerging markets is here to stay as many countries need to enact structural reforms to adjust to new conditions after the boom of recent years.
"They are still relatively stronger economies but still fragile," Polman said. "And you see that growth coming off now a little bit, obviously not being helped either by lower demand coming from Europe and the U.S. This will last a few years. And it will only be corrected if some of the reforms have been made in these places."
Unilever, the world's second-largest consumer-goods maker, said Sept. 30 that slowing growth in emerging markets would weigh on second-half sales. So-called underlying sales rose 3.2 percent in the third quarter, the weakest increase in four years and a slowdown from the first-half's 5 percent pace, the Anglo- Dutch maker of Lipton tea reported Oct. 24.
"I am always surprised that I am the one who sort of has to announce there's a slowdown in emerging markets," Polman said, speaking Nov. 29 at a reception where he was awarded the
2013 World Wildlife Fund Duke of Edinburgh Conservation Medal for Unilever's efforts to reduce environmental damage.
Investors have pumped money into emerging markets since 2008, spurred by the liquidity generated by central banks, Polman said. U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke's statement on June 19 that the Fed may start tapering stimulus efforts this year put pressure on emerging markets, he said.
"People were thinking interest rates in the U.S. would go up again and then money came back to the U.S.," the Dutch executive said. "You saw a lot of these emerging market currencies go down 10 to 15 percent. Fortunately these countries are stronger, so you don't have another Asian crisis."
Polman is the first CEO of a major multinational company to receive the Duke of Edinburgh conservation award since it began in 1970. He spoke in Geneva.
"It's a great honor," he said of the prize. "WWF clearly understood you have to take some risk by working with people, coalitions together to move things forward."

For Related News and Information:
Unilever Sales Slowed in Third Quarter on Emerging Markets NSN MTZP9K1A1I4H <GO> Unilever's Emerging Market Pain Heralds Europe Forecast Cuts NSN MU19SY6KLVTQ <GO> Unilever Tops Locals With Non-Dairy Ice Cream in India: Retail NSN MTPVPP6JIJVY <GO> Unilever Income Statement: UNA NA <EQUITY> FA IS <GO> Top Retail Stories: RTOP <GO>

--Editors: Thomas Mulier, Marthe Fourcade

To contact the reporter on this story:
Albertina Torsoli in Geneva at +41-22-317-9202 or atorsoli@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Celeste Perri at +31-20-589-8505 or
cperri@bloomberg.net










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