DBRS assigns Unilever A(high)

DBRS said it assigned Unilever plc an A(high) issuer rating with a stable trend.

“The A (high) credit rating reflects Unilever’s large scale and strong brand portfolio of mainly nondiscretionary products across a diverse set of categories, such as personal care and nutrition. The credit rating is also underpinned by the company’s globally diversified geographic footprint and exposure to higher-growth emerging markets (representing around 60% of sales), which make the group’s multi-year organic sales growth target of 3% to 5% achievable,” DBRS said in a statement.

The agency noted Unilever’s leverage is “relatively high for the current rating.”

The stable trend reflects expectations that Unilever’s gross leverage, as defined by debt to EBITDA, will stay at about 2.5x during fiscal year 2023–2024, unchanged since FY2022. The agency also forecasts leverage will subsequently decline towards 2x by F2026 from 2.2x as of June 2023 because of its prudent financial policy and EBITDA margin growth.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.