Unilever Plc's Competitiveness
A competitive positioning analysis and financial ratio benchmarking of Unilever Plc (ULVR) against its publicly traded competitors: sales growth, net income, profitability, valuation and market share, plus each peer's market capitalization, revenue, income and employees. Free below: the top 5 peers. Subscriber access adds the full competitor list and CSV downloads.
Key Findings: Unilever Plc vs Its Competitors
- TTM: Trailing 12-month revenue of 57,100M vs 298,078M combined for tracked competitors (16.1% combined share).
- Trending: Latest-quarter revenue run-rate is accelerating (+296.2% annualized vs trailing 12 months), vs holding steady (+1.6%) for its tracked peer group.
- Growth: Unilever Plc generated -16.9% revenue growth year over year in Q4 2025, vs 4.7% for its tracked competitors combined.
- Profitability: Its 19.8% net margin compares with 13.6% for the peer group.
- Peer revenue share: Unilever Plc accounted for 42.8% of combined revenue among its tracked peer group, down from 48.5% a year earlier.
- Peer differentiation: Revenue per employee of $0.59M compares with $0.58M for the peer group (1.0x).
Every figure above is sourced and cited in detail further down this page (Market Structure, Profitability & Cost Structure, Productivity vs Peers).
ULVR Sales vs. its Competitors, Q4 2025
Unilever Plc reported revenue contraction of 16.88 % year on year in Q4 2025, below its competitors' combined revenue growth of 4.74 %.
With a net margin of 19.82 %, Unilever Plc achieved higher profitability than its competitors (13.59 %).
Unilever Plc generated 42.76 % of the combined sales of its peer group, down from 48.49 % a year earlier.
Unilever Plc vs. its Competitors, Q4 2025
Revenue growth, year on year
Net income growth, year on year
Net margin
Revenue run-rate vs trailing 12 months
TTM net margin
TTM = trailing twelve months. Run-rate annualizes the latest quarter (×4) and compares it to TTM. In millions of $. High-Confidence Competitors are named as a competitor directly in an SEC filing; Similar-Size Competitors are the closest peers by market-cap rank within the same industry; Similar Growth & Profitability Competitors are the closest peers by combined revenue growth, operating margin and ROIC, all independent of the competitor list.
TTM revenue, latest-quarter run-rate and net income/margin benchmarked across Unilever Plc and its 4 competitor groupings. Available under Commercial License.
| Entity | TTM Revenue | Rev Run-rate vs TTM |
|---|---|---|
| Unilever Plc | $12,345M | +12.3% · Accelerating |
| Competitors combined | $12,345M | +12.3% · Accelerating |
| High-Confidence Competitors (12) | $12,345M | +12.3% · Accelerating |
| Similar Growth & Profitability (7) | $12,345M | +12.3% · Accelerating |
TTM revenue, run-rate and net margin benchmarking across Unilever Plc's competitor groups requires a Commercial License.
For context: the Personal & Household Products industry grew revenue 0.1% year over year, combined, vs -16.9% for Unilever Plc. Unilever Plc's share of combined industry revenue moved from 36.34% to 30.18%, a loss of 6.16 percentage points.
Unilever Plc's Competitor Quality Breadth
Share of each group, trailing 12 months: profitable (net margin > 0), expanding (revenue growth > 0), growing faster than the industry's own median, and financially distressed (Piotroski F-Score of 2 or below).
| Entity | Profitable | Expanding | Above Industry Growth | Distressed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unilever Plc | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Competitors combined (24) | ||||
| High-Confidence Competitors (13) | ||||
| Similar Growth & Profitability (8) | 100.00 % (8 of 8) | 75.00 % (6 of 8) | 75.00 % (6 of 8) | 12.50 % (1 of 8) |
Source: CSIMarket API, trailing 12 months. Altman Z-Score is not shown here: it is not populated in the underlying data for any company. Percentages are of companies in each group that report the relevant metric, not of the full group size.
ULVR Stock Performance relative to its Competitors
ULVR Stock Performance relative to High-Confidence Competitors
ULVR Stock Performance relative to Similar Growth & Profitability Competitors
5 Best-Performing Tracked Competitors, Trailing 12 Months
| # | Competitor | TTM Share Price Return | vs U.S.A. 500 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Horizon Kinetics Holding Corporation | 282.9% | Outperformed |
| 2 | Sealed Air Corp | 282.9% | Outperformed |
| 3 | Johnson and Johnson | 282.9% | Outperformed |
| 4 | The Honest Company Inc | 282.9% | Outperformed |
| 5 | Edgewell Personal Care Company | 282.9% | Outperformed |
TTM share price return and U.S.A. 500 outperformance for Unilever Plc's best-performing tracked competitors requires a Commercial License.
Source: CSIMarket API, trailing 12 months.
Publicly Traded Peers of Unilever Plc
Revenue and income for trailing 12 months, in millions of $, except employees| Company | Market Cap | Revenues |
|---|---|---|
| Unilever Plc | - | 57,099.78 |
| Johnson and Johnson | 645,992.07 | 97,929.00 |
| Procter and Gamble Co | 352,061.93 | 87,032.00 |
| Ecolab Inc | 77,486.48 | 16,995.90 |
| Colgate palmolive Company | 68,409.58 | 21,046.00 |
| Est e Lauder Companies Inc | 33,842.50 | 15,049.00 |
| SUBTOTAL | 1,267,402.46 | 355,179.71 |
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Sources: Unilever Plc's official press releases and regulatory filings; CSIMarket.com's market research; and the financial filings and press releases of the other companies cited.
Updated on:
Focus of this report: publicly traded companies. Ten additional tables on Unilever Plc versus competitors, including market share analysis, are in the navigation menu under Competition. To download the tables, please subscribe.
Unilever Plc's Competitors Named by the Company
Competitive relationships identified from SEC filings and corroborating sources, each with a basis and confidence.| Competitor | Basis | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Olaplex Holdings Inc | Named by the company | 85% |
| Edgewell Personal Care Company | Named by the company | 85% |
| Est e Lauder Companies Inc | Named by the company | 85% |
| The Honest Company Inc | Named by the company | 85% |
| The Alkaline Water Company Inc | Named by the company | 85% |
| Beyond Meat Inc | Named by the company | 85% |
| The Hain Celestial Group Inc | Named by the company | 85% |
| Coca Cola Co | Named by the company | 85% |
| Church and Dwight Co Inc | Named by the company | 85% |
| Helen Of Troy Limited | Named by the company | 85% |
| Starco Brands Inc | Named by the company | 85% |
| Grove Collaborative Holdings Inc | Named by the company | 85% |
| Nightfood Holdings Inc | Named by the company | 85% |
| E l f Beauty Inc | Named by the company | 85% |
| Waldencast Plc | Named by the company | 85% |
| Johnson and Johnson | Named by the company | 85% |
| Colgate palmolive Company | Named by the company | 85% |
| Kimberly clark Corporation | Named by the company | 85% |
| The Clorox Company | Named by the company | 85% |
| Procter and Gamble Co | Named by the company | 85% |
Filing basis, confidence, active dates and source counts for Unilever Plc's named competitors require a Commercial License.
Methodology: relationships are extracted from SEC filings (named-competitor disclosures) and corroborating sources. Named by the company = explicitly disclosed as a competitor; Inferred = derived from corroborating signals. Confidence reflects evidence strength.
Unilever Plc's Business Segment Mix vs Peers
Revenue by operating segment or division, as named and reported by each company. Segment names are the filer's own and are not standardized across companies. Do not assume a same-named or similarly-named segment is defined identically between two companies. Shares are of each company's own total revenue and are not required to sum to 100% (intersegment revenue, unallocated items).| Company | Largest Segment |
|---|---|
| Johnson and Johnson | Oncology 29.26 % |
| Procter and Gamble Co | Fabric & Home Care 34.83 % |
| Ecolab Inc | Water Services 50.05 % |
| Colgate palmolive Company | Oral, Personal and Home Care 77.71 % |
| Kimberly clark Corporation | North America (NA) 64.41 % |
Source: operating segment revenue as reported in each company's SEC filings (10-K/10-Q), via the CSIMarket API, leaf-level reportable segments only (parent roll-up segments are excluded where sub-segments are separately disclosed).
Unilever Plc's Productivity vs Peers Comparison
Revenue and income per employee, trailing 12 months, in $; market cap in millions of $| Company | Market Cap | Revenue / Employee | Income / Employee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unilever Plc | - | 594,789 | 117,903 |
| Johnson and Johnson | 645,992 | 695,518 | 149,411 |
| Procter and Gamble Co | 352,062 | 836,846 | 155,231 |
| Ecolab Inc | 77,486 | 354,081 | 44,450 |
| Colgate palmolive Company | 68,410 | 626,369 | 64,345 |
| Est e Lauder Companies Inc | 33,842 | 273,618 | 3,309 |
| PEERS TOTAL | 1,267,402 | 578,578 | 88,207 |
Unilever Plc's Geographic Revenue Exposure vs Peers
Revenue by country/region as reported in each company's most recent filing. Disclosure granularity varies by filer (some report by country, others by broad region) and is shown as disclosed.| Company | Largest Market |
|---|---|
| Johnson and Johnson | United States 57.42 % |
| Procter and Gamble Co | Non-US 52.05 % |
| Sealed Air Corp | Americas 64.01 % |
| E l f Beauty Inc | United States 78.98 % |
| Newell Brands Inc | North America 67.20 % |
Source: revenue geography as reported in each company's SEC filings (10-K/10-Q), via the CSIMarket API. Percentages are of that company's own total consolidated revenue for its most recent reported period.
Unilever Plc's Profitability & Cost Structure
Trailing 12-month margins from SEC-filed financials. Operating margin is compared to the Personal & Household Products industry median; gross margin, EBITDA margin and capital intensity are compared to the live industry average (42 companies). See the full Personal & Household Products industry profitability benchmarks.| Metric | Company | Industry | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross Margin | 0.00 % | 47.63 % (avg) | -47.6 pp |
| Operating Margin | 17.89 % | industry median | +12.7 pp |
| EBITDA Margin | 14.84 % | 6.35 % (avg) | +8.5 pp |
| Capital Intensity (Capex / Revenue) | 2.81 % | 2.24 % (avg) | +0.6 pp |
Source: CSIMarket API, trailing 12 months. SG&A and R&D as a share of revenue have limited coverage as this data is backfilled and appear only where reported. Higher capital intensity is not inherently negative; it reflects the industry's asset requirements.
Unilever Plc's Multi-Year Financial Trajectory
Fiscal-year revenue growth, operating margin, return on invested capital and P/E, as reported in SEC filings.| Metric | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue Growth | -11.67 % | 1.58 % | 0.56 % |
| Operating Margin | 17.41 % | 16.82 % | 17.89 % |
| Return on Invested Capital | 12.08 % | 11.63 % | 13.37 % |
| P/E | - | - | - |
Source: CSIMarket API, fiscal-year figures. P/E is this company's own historical ratio at each fiscal year end and can swing sharply around an earnings trough: that is real, not a data error.
Unilever Plc's Strategic Group Map
Every company in Unilever Plc's industry and named-competitor list, plotted by trailing 12-month revenue growth and operating margin. Unilever Plc is shown in red; its closest peers by combined growth, margin and ROIC (the Similar Growth & Profitability group above) are labeled.
Source: CSIMarket API, trailing 12 months. Extreme outlier values (from near-zero-revenue companies) are excluded from the plotted cloud but never from the highlighted company or its labeled peers.
Unilever Plc's Competitive Forces (Porter's Five Forces)
Only the forces this data can support honestly are shown; the other three are marked as such rather than guessed.| Force | Assessment | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Barriers to Entry | High (capital intensive) | Capital intensity (capex / revenue) of 2.81 % vs industry average 2.24 % (see Profitability & Cost Structure above) |
| Supplier Power | Not covered on this page | See Unilever Plc's dedicated suppliers page for concentration and dependency data |
| Buyer Power | Not covered on this page | See Unilever Plc's dedicated customers page for concentration and dependency data |
| Threat of Substitutes | - | No systematic data source for cross-product substitution exists in this system; not estimated |
Note: this is a partial, data-grounded application of the framework, not a complete strategic assessment. Rivalry and barriers-to-entry readings are mechanical translations of the HHI and capital-intensity figures shown elsewhere on this page, not independent judgments.
Unilever Plc's Industry Attractiveness & Competitive Strength
A CSIMarket composite, not a standard field: each axis is an equal-weighted average of three factors already shown elsewhere on this page (industry growth, industry profitability and rivalry for attractiveness; relative market share, profitability and growth vs industry for strength). Disclosed as a designed methodology, not a precision measurement.
Unilever Plc falls in the Low attractiveness / High strength cell: Selective.
Source: CSIMarket API, trailing 12 months. Each axis score is a simple 1(low)/2(medium)/3(high) average across its three inputs -- a transparent, disclosed simplification, not a validated academic scoring model.
Unilever Plc's SWOT
Every point below is a fixed rule applied to a metric already shown elsewhere on this page (Market Structure, Profitability, Valuation, Run-Rate, Stock Performance, Quality Breadth) not an independent strategic assessment. A blank quadrant means no rule was met, not that none apply.Strengths
- Operating margin 12.7 points above the industry median.
- Return on equity 27.0 points above the industry aggregate.
- Latest-quarter revenue run-rate is accelerating (+296.2% annualized vs trailing 12 months).
Weaknesses
No rule matched.
Opportunities
No rule matched.
Threats
- Losing revenue share to the broader industry (-6.2 points over the past year).
- High capital intensity requires continuous reinvestment just to keep pace with the industry.
Methodology: mechanical, rule-based SWOT. Each bullet reuses a figure already sourced and cited elsewhere on this page; nothing here is generated narrative or independent analyst judgment.
Unilever Plc's Financial Strength vs Peers Comparison
Quick ratio, working capital, debt to equity and asset turnover, trailing 12 months| Company | Quick Ratio | Working Capital | Debt / Equity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unilever Plc | 0.18 | 0.79 | 0.01 |
| Johnson and Johnson | 0.37 | 1.05 | 0.60 |
| Procter and Gamble Co | 0.25 | 0.71 | 0.71 |
| Ecolab Inc | 0.38 | 1.38 | 1.29 |
| Colgate palmolive Company | 0.21 | 0.95 | 12.14 |
| Est e Lauder Companies Inc | 0.04 | 1.27 | 1.88 |
Quick ratio = cash / current liabilities; working capital ratio = current assets / current liabilities; asset turnover = revenue / total assets. Peers in the Blank Checks industry are excluded.
Unilever Plc's Revenue and Income Growth vs Peers
Quarterly revenue and net income growth, year over year and quarter over quarter| Company | Period | Revenue Y/Y | Income Y/Y |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unilever Plc | Q4 2025 | +0.6 % | +64.2 % |
| Johnson and Johnson | Q2 2026 | +6.6 % | -0.1 % |
| Procter and Gamble Co | Q2 2026 | +1.5 % | -15.0 % |
| Ecolab Inc | Q2 2026 | +13.5 % | +1.9 % |
| Colgate palmolive Company | Q2 2026 | +4.9 % | -7.0 % |
| Est e Lauder Companies Inc | Q2 2026 | +6.3 % | - |
| PEERS TOTAL | +2.8 % | +22.3 % |
Growth is shown only where both periods are positive. Peers in the Blank Checks industry are excluded.
Unilever Plc's Peers' Costs of Sales and Capital Expenditures
Context for revenue growth: peer costs and capex, year over year and quarter over quarter| Company | Period | Costs Y/Y | Capex Y/Y |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unilever Plc | Q4 2025 | +0.7 % | +7.2 % |
| Johnson and Johnson | Q2 2026 | +5.5 % | +26.7 % |
| Procter and Gamble Co | Q2 2026 | +2.7 % | +2.7 % |
| Ecolab Inc | Q2 2026 | +11.1 % | +10.8 % |
| Colgate palmolive Company | Q2 2026 | +1.2 % | +18.5 % |
| Est e Lauder Companies Inc | Q2 2026 | -6.8 % | -27.1 % |
Unilever Plc's Returns and Turnover vs Peers
ROA, ROI and ROE (trailing 12 months), receivables and inventory turnover| Company | ROA | ROI | ROE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unilever Plc | 13.69% | 20.28% | 54.84% |
| Johnson and Johnson | 10.60% | 13.30% | 25.74% |
| Procter and Gamble Co | 12.72% | 17.81% | 30.05% |
| Ecolab Inc | 8.24% | 9.11% | 21.51% |
| Colgate palmolive Company | 12.86% | 19.90% | 325.73% |
| Est e Lauder Companies Inc | 0.93% | 1.36% | 4.68% |
ROA = net income / total assets; ROI = net income / investments; ROE = net income / equity; turnover ratios use trailing 12 month revenue (receivables) and cost of sales (inventory).
Unilever Plc's Valuation vs Peers
P/E, price to sales, PEG, price to cash flow and price to book| Company | P/E | Price / Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Unilever Plc | - | - |
| Johnson and Johnson | 30.64 | 6.60 |
| Procter and Gamble Co | 22.05 | 4.05 |
| Ecolab Inc | 36.83 | 4.56 |
| Colgate palmolive Company | 33.79 | 3.25 |
| Est e Lauder Companies Inc | 189.33 | 2.25 |
| PEERS AVERAGE | 22.33 | 3.57 |
P/E = price / diluted EPS (trailing 12 months); PEG = P/E divided by EPS growth; the average row divides the peers' combined market cap by their combined income, sales, cash flow and equity.