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Fernando Fernandez

Chief Executive Officer, Unilever

Search every verified Fernando Fernandez interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Fernando Fernandez, CEO of Unilever, appeared at the Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference on September 9, 2026, where he discussed the company's performance and strategy. He stated that Unilever delivered 5.5% volume growth in the second quarter but said he did not believe the company is a 5.5% volume growth company, expressing confidence that it is becoming a consistent 2-3% volume growth company. He also described Unilever as a "39 billion HPC pure play" after the separation of its foods business, with leading positions in personal care, home care, and emerging markets. He noted that the company is using 300,000 content creators globally and cited examples of market-making opportunities in India, such as low penetration rates in categories like hair masks, suncare, and liquid body washes. In an October 14, 2026 interview on the "Shapers of Modern Marketing" series, Fernandez discussed brand authenticity, consumer education, and his leadership philosophy. He said he believes in the durability of brands and that digitalization has increased consumer power to know, raising the value of authenticity, transparency, and truth. He also described his role as asking questions rather than delivering answers, stating that the higher one is in an organization, the less one knows, and that his role is to facilitate the organization and ensure people feel comfortable with risk. He recounted a lesson from a former boss during a competitive attack in Argentina, who told him that his success was tied to the work of the 3,000 people in the factory.

Recent appearances

  • “Give People Reasons to Recommend You” ft Unilever CEO Fernando Fernández

    October 14, 2026 · 📺 SAMY

    What makes a brand worth recommending? For Fernando Fernández, CEO of Unilever, authenticity, truthful communication and consumer education are central to the answer. In episode two of Shapers of Modern Marketing, Fernando joins SAMY’s Alejandro Berdomas to discuss recommendation systems, content creators and how digitalisation has given consumers greater access to information. The conversation also covers the principles behind his leadership: consistent brand-building, acting under uncertainty and giving teams the freedom to challenge what came before. Watch the full interview and subscrib…

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  • Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference 2026

    September 14, 2026 · 📺 Unilever

    Fernando Fernandez, CEO and Priya Nair, CEO and Managing Director of Hindustan Unilever, presented at the Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference 2026 on 9 September 2026 at 9h00 ET. 00:00:00 Introduction 00:01:27 What’s changed at Unilever 00:04:23 Performance 00:06:05 HPC Pureplay 00:08:51 Intro to HUL 00:12:35 The New India Opportunity 00:18:31 HUL Strategy to Win 00:28:05 Summary 00:30:00 Q&A Learn more: https://www.unilever.com/investors/re... Follow us on social media: Instagram:   / unilever   Twitter:   / unilever   Facebook:   / unilever   LinkedIn:   / unileve…

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  • Unilever Q2 2026 Earnings Call | Underlying Sales Surge 5.8% on Strong 5.5% Volume Growth

    July 29, 2026 · 📺 i101

    Unilever Q2 2026 Earnings Call | Underlying Sales Surge 5.8% on Strong 5.5% Volume Growth Twitter - https://x.com/i101yt If you find our work useful, please support us by purchasing a Super Thanks— it truly helps us a lot. #earningscall #StockMarketNews #conferenceCall Earnings Call | Earnings Conference Call | Earnings concall | concall | quarterly results | Stock News | Full Year results | Fiscal Year results | investment news | stock latest news | Annual Meeting of Shareholders | Annual Meeting of Unitholders | Special and Annual Meeting of Shareholders | AGM | Annual General Meeting…

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  • Unilever | Q2 & H1 2026 | Results | Webcast & Q&A

    July 28, 2026 · 📺 Unilever

    Unilever released its Q2 & H1 2026 results on Tuesday, 28th April 2026. 00:00:10 CEO Fernando Fernandez: Q2 2026 Highlights 00:10:04 CFO Srinivas Phatak: Financial overview and outlook 00:28:15 CEO Fernando Fernandez: Building a simpler, sharper, faster Unilever 00:29:17 Q&A Follow us on social media: Instagram:   / unilever   Twitter:   / unilever   Facebook:   / unilever   LinkedIn:   / unilever  

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  • Unilever CEO: 'I Want an Influencer in Every Zip Code' | WSJ Leadership Institute

    June 29, 2026 · 📺 WSJ News

    Unilever CEO Fernando Fernandez sits down with the WSJ Leadership Institute's Alan Murray to discuss his strategy for ...

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  • Unilever | Q1 2026 Trading Statement | Results | Webcast & Q&A

    April 30, 2026 · 📺 Unilever

    Unilever released its Q1 2026 Trading Statement on Thursday, 30 April 2026. 00:00:12 CEO Fernando Fernandez: Q1 2026 Highlights 00:02:22 CFO Srinivas Phatak: Financial overview and outlook 00:14:55 CEO Fernando Fernandez: Building a simpler, sharper, faster Unilever 00:23:11 Q&A Learn more: https://www.unilever.com/investors/wh... Follow us on social media: Instagram:   / unilever   Twitter:   / unilever   Facebook:   / unilever   LinkedIn:   / unilever  

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  • Fernando and Warren Ackerman discuss Foods-McCormick combination | Unilever

    April 08, 2026 · 📺 Unilever

    Unilever CEO Fernando Fernandez and Warren Ackerman, Head of European Consumer Staples Research at Barclays, sat down to discuss the combination of Unilever’s Foods business with McCormick & Company. The conversation focused on the strategic rationale for the transaction and how it positions both businesses for long-term value creation. For Unilever, the transaction will create a more focused portfolio, with greater exposure to higher-growth categories and a clearer positioning as a leading HPC pureplay. For Foods, the combination brings together complementary portfolios and capabilities to…

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  • Incontriamo Fernando Fernandez, CEO di Unilever.

    March 24, 2026 · 📺 Fidelity Italia

    Unilever è una delle più grandi aziende di beni di consumo al mondo, proprietaria di marchi come Dove e Persil. Fernando ...

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  • Q4 and full-year 2025 results webcast and Q&A audio described | Unilever

    March 04, 2026 · 📺 Unilever

    Unilever released its full-year 2025 results on 12 February 2026. These showed 3.5% underlying sales growth, underlying operating margin at 20.0% and €5.9 billion in free cash flow. The performance was driven by the growth of our Power Brands, portfolio reshaping and disciplined cost execution. What were Unilever’s key financial results for FY2025? • Underlying sales growth 3.5% with 1.5% volume growth • Q4 underlying sales growth 4.2% with 2.1% volume growth • Turnover €50.5 billion, down 3.8%, mainly due to adverse currency movements and net disposals • Underlying operating margin 20.0%, u…

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  • Unilever im Wandel: So reformiert CEO Fernando Fernandez die Unternehmenskultur

    February 26, 2026 · 📺 Fidelity International DE

    Unilever ist eines der weltweit größten Konsumgüterunternehmen und Eigentümer von Marken wie Dove und Persil.

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  • Consumer Analyst Group of New York Conference 2026 | Unilever

    February 18, 2026 · 📺 Unilever

    At the Consumer Analyst Group of New York (CAGNY) Conference on 17 February 2026, Unilever CEO Fernando Fernandez explained how the company is now a simpler, category-led organisation with a focused, higher-growth portfolio and volume-led execution model. Herrish Patel, President Unilever USA and CEO Personal Care North America, covered how our Desire at Scale model has helped deliver 4% volume growth in the US in the last three years. CFO Srinivas Phatak talked about our value creation model and how Unilever is well positioned for growth in India. 00:30 Introduction 02:18 What has changed at…

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  • Q4 and full-year 2025 results webcast and Q&A | Unilever

    February 12, 2026 · 📺 Unilever

    Unilever released its full-year 2025 results on 12 February 2026. These showed 3.5% underlying sales growth, underlying operating margin at 20.0% and €5.9 billion in free cash flow. The performance was driven by the growth of our Power Brands, portfolio reshaping and disciplined cost execution. What were Unilever’s key financial results for FY2025? • Underlying sales growth 3.5% with 1.5% volume growth • Q4 underlying sales growth 4.2% with 2.1% volume growth • Turnover €50.5 billion, down 3.8%, mainly due to adverse currency movements and net disposals • Underlying operating margin 20.0%, u…

    Watch on YouTube ↗

Verified interview transcripts

Notable quotes

“We deliver 5.5% volume growth in the second quarter. Are we a 5.5% volume growth company? I don't believe so you know but I feel we are increasingly confident that unilver is becoming a two to three% volume growth company consistently at growth time you know and if we deliver that and we deliver pricing in line with with the kind of general CPI inflation that we have seen historically you know I feel the prospect of ”

“We will become after separation of foods 39 billion HPC pure play with very good balance between our three key categories. Venom will be in personal care and home care. We have a very attractive business in India and particularly beverage and foods that will continue being a strategy for us in the medium term. We are the second largest VPC company globally and we are the number one company in home care in emerging ma”

“I never blame markets. Markets are imperfect in the short term but in the long term they reward companies with good fundamentals and consistent delivery. The main issue of Unilever is that has not delivered consistently. If we deliver that the valuation discount will disappear with time.”

“This is not a transaction that is defined by the need of producing a turnaround. This is a transaction that is absolutely aligned with the strategic path in which Unilever is and I'm glad also that the question is changing from why not into why now because the question I used to receive the more was why not.”

“The times of uni liver buying a soap company in Colombia or a food company in Egypt or a home care business in Vietnam are gone. We will concentrate the capital allocation of uni liver in building a portfolio for the future in the US that can travel internationally.”

“We continue focusing bolt-on acquisitions, you know, and in our algorithm, you know, we are allocating around 1.5 billion a year in net M&A. And the focus remains in beauty, personal care and definitely in the US and in India.”

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