Positive half year results see Unilever upgraded to a ‘buy'

Sheridan Admans, investment research manager at The Share Centre, upgrades Unilever to a ‘buy' for the longer term. Here's why:

"For sometime we have rated Unilever as a ‘hold' due to continued disappointing results, however management efforts to turn the business around are gaining traction and the company's half year sales growth and margins exceeded analyst consensus. We are therefore upgrading Unilever to a ‘buy', with the suggestions that investors drip feed into the stock.

"Unilever's efforts to recover costs, expansion in emerging markets and focus on profitable volume growth should continue to prove positive and help to support the share price.

"Emerging market operations delivered 11.5% underlying sales growth in the last financial year and 11% in the first half of this financial year. The company is positioning itself to benefit more from the continued expected growth in these regions and has a significant number of new products in the pipeline.

"We believe Unilever is attractive for investors looking to build a long-term position in a quality global provider of home care and personal products."