Morgan Stanley Global Consumer Conference 2004 - Unilever

Antony Burgmans
Chairman Unilever N.V.
3 November 2004
0

Safe harbour statement
This presentation may contain forward-looking statements,
including ‘forward-looking statements’ within the meaning of the
United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
These forward-looking statements are based upon current
expectations and assumptions regarding anticipated
developments and other factors affecting the Group. They are not
historical facts, nor are they guarantees of future performance.
Because these forward-looking statements involve risks and
uncertainties, there are important factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by
these forward-looking statements. Further details of potential risks
and uncertainties affecting the Group are described in the Group’s
filings with the London Stock Exchange, Euronext Amsterdam and
the US Securities and Exchange Commission, including the
Annual Report & Accounts on Form 20-F. These forward-looking
statements speak only as of the date of this presentation.
1

Mission Statement
“Unilever’s mission is to add vitality to life.
We meet the everyday needs for nutrition,
hygiene and personal care with brands
that help people feel good, look good and get
more out of life.”
Agenda for today:
• Overview of Unilever
• Recent performance and actions being taken
• Bring this to life by featuring North America - a good, practical
illustration of:
- long term strategic development
- scale and portfolio reach
- managing categories through brands
with some specific category and brand examples.
2

Global scale, category leadership
Savoury & Dressings
Spreads
Weight management
Tea
Ice Cream
Frozen Foods
Laundry
Household Care
Daily Hair Care
Skin
Deodorants
Oral Care
Prestige Fragrances
Western
Europe
Source: Euromonitor, Unilever estimates
North
America Other
Regions World
2003 Turnover €bn 16.9 9.9 16.1 42.9
US$bn 19.1 11.1 18.2 48.4
3
Number 1
Number 2
Number 3
or less
Not
present
Unsurpassed geographic presence, including:
• strong, long established presence in Developing & Emerging
markets:
- over a third of our total business
• $ 11 billion business in North America
By category and region:
• leader in more than half of the markets in which we operate
• number one or two in almost 80% of them
In the Home and Personal Care categories our greatest strength is
outside North America and Europe - about half of our HPC business is
in the ‘developing world’.

Unique basket of strong, relevant brands
4
etc….
Our category positions are built on a strong portfolio of brands:
These are some examples of:
• Global brands
• Local jewels (some US ones shown at the bottom of the chart)
We now have 12 brands with a turnover of over €1 bn, up from
only 4 in 1999.
The brands have been built over time with consistent support:
Unilever is one of world’s largest advertisers.

2004 performance
� Outlook now for low single digit growth in EPS
� Disappointing sales
� Commitment to restore top line growth
Actions being taken:
� Stepping up market place aggression
� Sustained innovation & activation behind
focused portfolio of brands
In September, lowered 2004 outlook for EPS beia growth to low
single digits:
• followed continuation of weak sales (ytd u.s.g. -0.6%) and
pressure on some market positions
• included increased investment behind brands from Q4 2004
Unilever fully committed to driving shareholder value
• number 1 priority is re-igniting top line growth
Action being taken:
• adjusting price points where necessary
• stepping up support behind key innovations
• increasing media spend for a number of leading brands
5

Improving competitiveness in Europe
� Weak consumer confidence
� Retail dynamics: discounters, traditional retailers
� Share loss in some categories
Actions being taken:
� Pricing
� Innovation
� Activation
Europe
Market conditions difficult in a number of countries
• Consumer confidence remains weak
• Continued growth of ‘discount’ retail formats
• Response of traditional retailers
Increased emphasis on need for brands to offer good value
Also, not helped by poor summer weather !
Against this background - share loss in some categories.
Action being taken:
• already adjusted some price points in a number of countries
• driving harder on innovation - e.g. cholesterol lowering technology
-
pro.activ extensions
• stepping up brand activation - e.g. laundry ‘dirt is good’ campaign
6

Taking the initiative in Asia
Asia
� India - robust defence of market positions
� Japan - step up in innovation activity
� Elsewhere - strong programme of innovation
and activation
Large and growing market, strong positions
Step-up in activity from several competitors in laundry and hair care in
a number of countries.
Actions being taken:
• In India:
- price reductions already in place
- launch of Rin ‘Advance’ laundry powder - superior whitening
• In Japan:
- Lux Super Rich: improved formulation, packaging,
communication
• Innovations targeting large anti-dandruff shampoo segment in India,
China and South East Asia
Confident that these and other initiatives will restore top-line
momentum
7

Robust defence in South Latin America Laundry
1994-1996:
• Competitor acquisitions
1999:
• Competitor attack - pricing, innovation, A&P, etc.
Since 1999:
• Unrivalled leadership maintained and secured across
the sub-region
• Initial reduction in profitability, since reversed
An illustration of robust defence of a strong position
Since 1999:
� 700 bps + increase in operating margin
� business today has double digit operating margins
� capital efficiency improved by 690 bps
A clear demonstration that this strategy creates long term value
8

North America
So now to a practical illustration - North America
A strong business built over many years
9

Unilever in North America 1993 - 2003
US$ billions
Turnover
- Foods
- Personal Care
- Home Care
Total Foods, P Care & H Care
Professional Cleaning
& Speciality Chemicals
Total turnover
Operating margin*
* before exceptional items and amortisation of goodwill
10
1993 2003
3.4
2.5
1.0
6.9
1.7
8.6
7.5%
6.4
3.3
1.4
11.1
-
11.1
16.8%
Foods and Home and Personal Care has grown from under $7
billion to just over $11 billion.
Today:
• somewhat over half is in Foods
• 30% is in Personal Care
• a little under 15% is in Home Care
Operating margins have more than doubled over this period to
16.8% last year - slightly more than the Unilever average
This has been achieved through strategic thrusts:
• focus on categories and brands
• strengthening the portfolio through acquisition
• generating economies of scale
• customer management as a competitive advantage

Focus on categories and brands -
Portfolio strengthened by acquisitions
1993 Breyers, Breyers,
Klondike
Leadership in Ice Cream
1996 Helene Curtis
Critical mass in Hair Care & Deo.
2000 Slim.Fast
Leadership in Weight Management
2000 Ben & Jerry’s
Adding Premium Ice Cream
2000 Bestfoods
Scale in Foods, leadership in Dressings, strong
Foodsolutions
Acquisitions targeted to strengthen Unilever categories or bring
capabilities in fast growing adjacent categories
Most recently and by far the largest is Bestfoods.
Bestfoods transformed our Foods presence in North America and
globally.
With half year results reviewed Bestfoods progress and confirmed
meeting targets set out:
• Cost synergy > € 1 billion
• Foods momentum growth rate up by over 100 bps
• Cash earnings accretive in year 1
• ROIC / WACC cross-over achieved in 4th full year (mid 2004)
• Bestfoods brands accretive to Unilever Foods growth
• Debt paydown on plan
Bestfoods brands have grown by 3-4% on average since 2001.
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Focus on categories and brands -
Exit via disposals
1997 Chemicals
1998 Canned meats
2001 Frozen Fish
2001 Pregnancy testing
2001 Prestige Cosmetics
2002 Professional Cleaning
2003 Mass fragrances
2003 Oral Care
2003 Dishwash
Number of brands
% of turnover in leading brands
12
2000 2004
113 59
78% 97%
Disposals have contributed to category and brand focus.
With Path to Growth, since 2000, focus on selected brands.
Number of brands down from over 100 to less than 60 in North
America.
97% of the portfolio now in leading brands - compared with 78% at
the start.

Generating economies of scale
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
'93 '94 '95 '96 '97 '98 '99 '00 '01 '02 '03
From several companies towards acting as a single unit:
Van den Bergh
Lipton
Bestfoods
Slim.Fast
* Fixed assets + working capital % turnover
Operating margin beia Assets* % sales
Good Humor
Breyers
Ben & Jerry’s
13
Lever
H. Curtis
C. Ponds
Operating margin more than doubled over the period
Asset efficiency dramatically improved
Supply chain improvement:
• sourcing simplification
• tactical outsourcing
• global purchasing
• distribution reconfigured with a major reduction in the number of
warehouses
• integrated systems
…with improved customer service.
Leveraging the scale of Unilever by integrating 10 companies into 3
business units.
• next stage now in progress - implementation of shared support
services between Foods and HPC, while retaining separate
marketing
focus.
Single face to the customer……..
35
33
31
29
27
25
23
21
19
17
15

Customer management as a competitive
advantage
Source: AC Nielsen
Unique store reach
Common Agenda’s - Drive Profitable Growth
Building competitive advantage
• Shopper Insight Research across the entire store
• Category Vision, Category Mgmt, & Customer Marketing
capabilities
• Advanced Promotion Simulation and Evaluation Models
• Consumption based Supply Chain models driven by Customer
POS
• Proprietary Customer Strategic Planning process & systems that
allows insight into future business conditions
Unilever can leverage this with it’s unique store reach, e.g.:
- category captains in 9 categories with Wal.Mart across Foods and
HPC
• “One Unilever” face to the customer across North America
• Consumer events capitalize on brand portfolio across categories
• Unilever dedicated retail teams for retail excellence and execution
14

Mass Home and Personal Care - USA
Skin Deodorants Hair Laundry
# 1
#2 # 2
15
# 2
Example of how we manage categories through leading brands in
Home and Personal Care in the US.
‘Cornerstone’ brand in each category, supported by the other
brands in the portfolio
The cornerstone brand:
• has the consumer ‘pulling power’ with the retailer
• can generate economies of scale in production, R&D, distribution
Enables the other brands to:
• build on this by meeting specific consumer needs in the category
• support the cornerstone brand bringing additional scale to the
category
In this way the brands combine to give leadership or #2 positions
Brands can extend across categories, provided they remain true to
the brand essence - what the brand stands for.

Deodorants - the effect
%
30
28
26
24
22
20
18
16
14
12
10
* Year to Date
'96 '97 '98 '99 '00 '01 '02 '03 '04*
Source: AC Nielsen, 6 channel data
Antiperspirants & Deodorants
Illustration in Deodorants….
Market share - Deodorants
5 years ago Degree was our main brand in this category,
supported by Suave.
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Competitor 1
Unilever
Competitor 2
Competitor 3
The introduction of Dove produced the first step change in ‘99 -
‘00
The introduction of Axe produced the next step-up, starting last
year.

Deodorants - the effect
Advertising
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Hair Care - Portfolio in change
Supported by:
Preeminent ‘value’ brand
21 % share by volume - #1
10% share by value
Launched in 2003
4% share by value
Total Unilever
29% share by volume - #1
18% share by value - # 2
Market shares of Daily Hair Care. Source: AC Nielsen 6 channel data
Different situation in Hair:
Suave is ‘cornerstone brand’: in a value positioning.
21% share by volume is almost twice the nearest brand
Dove:
• proved credentials for hair in Asia then in Europe, now
strengthens category portfolio in N America
• launched 2003 currently 4% share by value of daily hair care
Supported by: Thermasilk, Finesse, Salon Selectives, Aquanet.
2003/4 - a period of intense competitive activity
2003 Unilever focus was on Dove launch. Some share loss in
Suave and the other, supporting brands.
2004 continue to build Dove, renewed emphasis on Suave.
Shares stable for last 6 months
2005 & beyond - developing all segments with the full portfolio
18

Foods - USA
Spreads Tea Ice Cream Weight
Mgmt
# 1 # 1 # 1 # 1 # 1
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Dressings
Olive
Oil
# 1
…and a strong Foodsolutions business
Managing categories through brands - this time for Foods:
Savoury
Shows leadership in all categories except for Savoury where we
are still #2
Illustrates that:
• for some categories, a single cornerstone brand can lead a
category on it’s own: e.g. Lipton in tea, Bertolli in Olive Oil
• in other categories it may be necessary to have a range of
brands;
e.g. Spreads.
Strong business in the Foodservice channel:
• branded in it’s own right with a reputation for excellence in
providing solutions and technical support ‘back of house’
• leverages the other brands (Hellmann’s, Lipton etc,) in the ‘front
of
house’.
#2

Ice Cream -
Adding Fun to Vitality
US Ice Cream market is by far the largest in the world -
consumption rate of over 20 litres per head.
Total market grows at around 2% p.a. but within this, products
which address ‘health & wellness’ are growing much faster
Our range includes products which offer options for:
• Low fat, including Frozen Yoghurt
• No Sugar
• Low carb
• Organic
• Lactose free
Together these products are now over 20% of our Ice Cream
portfolio
In aggregate this part of our portfolio has grown by over 40% p.a.
over the past 4 years.
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$0.9bn
Sustained growth in NA Ice Cream
Annual sales
$1.6bn
Acquisition of Ben & Jerry’s
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Est
1995 2004
21
Underlying sales growth
of 6%p.a. 1995 - 2004 ytd
Further market share gain
in 2004
…….this has helped our North American Ice Cream business
sustain underlying sales growth averaging around 6% per year over
the past 10 years, including this year.
Further market share gained in 2004 with sustained growth in
profits.

Slim.Fast
Phase 1 - restore momentum
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
Market share: US weight management
Source - IRI (FDTKS+ Wal-Mart)
22
Slim.fast
Low carb
Competitor
2003 2004
Phase 2 - revitalise the brand
First stage of recovery plan:
• to slow decline from losing consumers to low carb diets
• launch of 20 Low Carb products across bars, snacks, shakes
• Low Carb products now 25% of the portfolio
Share decline stopped, leadership restored
Low carb dieting has brought consumers into dieting but attitude
shifts now creating a gap
Relaunch of the entire ‘classic’ Slim.Fast range as Slim.Fast Optima
addresses this gap:
• real weight loss success based on credible calorie science
• new personalised plans allow you to eat more of your favourite
foods
• new products with balanced nutrition to keep you satisfied
• products with up to 55% less sugar

First to market
Launch of Carb Options was about responding fast to the rising low
carb wave:
• great tasting products at reasonable prices
• where they normally shop
• backed up by national brand endorsement
• from a company with ‘food’ credentials
Low Carb market:
• is large….estimated $3.2 billion sales for 2004
• has stabilised and is actually slightly declining
• is here to stay…..
• Unilever has 9% share of low carb market
(CarbSmart,CarbOptions,
Slim.fast low carb)
Recent research (NPD 2004 through August) shows:
• 5% on Atkins / South Beach diet
• 56% ‘trying to cut down on carbs’
Attention to calories, fat and sugar again on the rise
Think of them as the ‘carb savvy, multi-diet style’ consumer
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Advertising
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AC Nielsen Markettrack
Healthy Heart - Canada
Market Share of margarine
88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03
In the US we are clear number 1 in spreads...
… but here’s an example from Canada - Becel
• Sustained growth since launch in 1978
• #1 Margarine in Canada, 41% share
• Highest brand loyalty & penetration
• “Expert source on heart health”
- endorsement by consumers & health care professionals
• Equivalent of a $1billion brand in US
25
%
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

Summary
Unilever North America
� Business built with real scale and profitability
� Strong brands driving leading category positions
� Capabilities leveraged across Foods and HPC
To summarise:
North America:
• a strong business built over many years - $11bn turnover
• clear strategic category and brand focus
• lead in 7 categories, number 2 position in the other 4
• exited from others via disposal
• increasingly leveraging Unilever scale across categories - e.g.
customer management, supply management, finance, H.R.
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Summary
Unilever Global
� Scale and geographic reach
� Track record of control of costs and capital
� Commitment to shareholder value
Unilever:
Determined to re-ignite re ignite profitable growth
Same principles extended globally…...
• a business with real scale and unsurpassed geographic reach
• strong portfolio of brands and categories
• world class cadre of management
• track record of control of costs (ca. €5 bn p.a savings vs 1999)
and capital (860 bps reduction since 1999)
• commitment to shareholder value
Return to top line growth across the world is number one priority.
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Antony Burgmans
Chairman Unilever N.V.
3 November 2004
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