Unilever Reveals Sales Drop Due To The Impact Of Israel's Boycott

JAKARTA - PT Unilever Indonesia Tbk (UNVR) revealed that the impact of boycott actions carried out on Israeli-affiliated products or companies also affected the company's performance.

UNVR President Director Benjie Yap said that the company's domestic sales fell due to a boycott in the fourth quarter of 2023.

"We were affected by negative consumer sentiment in domestic sales. In mid-November and December 2023, the biggest impact was felt," he explained in an online Performance Exposure on Wednesday, February 7, 2024.

For information, UNVR recorded a net profit throughout 2023 of IDR 4.8 trillion. This figure is down 10.50 percent when compared to the previous 2022 IDR 5.36 trillion.

Meanwhile, the company's net sales decreased by 6.32 percent to IDR 38.61 trillion in 2023, compared to IDR 41.21 trillion in the previous year.

As for the plan, domestic sales were recorded at IDR 37.40 trillion and export sales amounted to IDR 1.20 trillion. Based on its products, household and body care needs amounted to IDR 25.15 trillion and food and beverage products amounted to IDR 13.46 trillion.

To anticipate this impact, Benjie said that the company has implemented several strategies to restore performance to its original state by overcoming hoaxes and showing halal certificates in its products.

"With the intervention, we started recovery since January 2024, and the first week to four trends have increased and have returned to the baseline," he said.

Benjie said he was optimistic that if the improvement continued, his future performance would return to the way it was the previous year. In addition, UNVR is also working with the community of mosques and religious leaders to overcome negative sentiments circulating in the community.

In addition, it will actively monitor the distribution of information related to the company and take down misinformation.

"This is an important step and needs to be done not just once," he said.

Benjie said the company would also identify the area of the most affected store area. This is considered necessary because Unilever Indonesia's contribution to its global parent company is large, reaching 4 percent.