International food, beverage and consumer products giant Unilever, is the latest manufacturer to feel financial pressure in Australia.
Unilever's Australian profits fell more than 40 per cent to $43 million in the 12 months to December 2012, while its revenue remained flat at $1.557 billion compared to 2011, according to results lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
The news follows a recent report from the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) which found profitability of Australian food and grocery suppliers had declined by 28 per cent from 2010 to 2012.
The Competitiveness and Sustainable Growth Report found that suppliers were significantly increasing the funding of price discounting by retailers via their ‘trade spend'.
However a spokeswoman for Unilever told the Sydney Morning Herald that the company's profits in 2011 were inflated by asset sales.
Unilever competes against the likes of Nestle, Goodman Fielder and Procter & Gamble, and in Australia its food and drink brands include Magnum and Streets ice cream, Lipton, Lan-Choo and Bushells tea, and Flora and Bertoli spreads.
In May, Roy Morgan Research reported that Flora remained the nation’s favourite margarine brand, with 12 per cent of Australians aged 14+ using it in an average four-week period, followed by Meadow Lea.
However supermarket brands are gaining ground in this category. They were the third most popular margarine, having grown in popularity from 5 per cent in 2008 to 7 per cent in 2012, according to Roy Morgan Research.
A Unilever spokeswoman told Food & Drink Business that as a global listed company, the company's general policy was to not go into detail on local performance.
