Unilever's other priority regions are Central and Eastern Europe, China, South East Asia and South Latin America. While progress of the group fell short of its targets in China where the turnover did not grow during the year, a statement of the chairmen in Unilever's annual review report for 1997 said: "We are pleased to record that we made considerable progress in realising our ambitions for the other priority regions."

As against a slowdown in China, which has been one of Unilever's main areas of growth, the Indian operations recorded "excellent growth in sales and profits."

In addition to highlighting the fact that the Indian operations gained market share in all categories, Unilever said that significant improvementswere achieved in both the effectiveness and competitiveness of the supply chain of Hindustan Lever.

Hindustan Lever, in which Unilever holds 51 per cent, posted net sales of Rs 7,820 crore and a net profit of Rs 560.37 crore, a growth of 35.3 per cent and 18.5 per cent, respectively over the previous year.

In contrast to the growth recorded by the Indian operations, other parts of Asia and Pacific posted dull growths. For instance, in Japan the turnover fell below the 1996 levels and that in Australia it was flat.

Developing and emerging markets account for over 30 per cent of Unilever's turnover of pounds 29.76 billion.

While for the develped markets of Europe and North America, the priority has been portfolio rationalisation and margin improvement, Unilever said: "We have put particular emphasis in the meantime on growth in developing and emerging markets. These account for nearly 90 per cent of the world's population and offer great potential for long-term growth in the consumption of out productsand services."

The two parent companies, Unilever PLC and Unilever NV (refered to as the Unilever Group), operate as a single entity and is presided over by a chairman each. While Niall FitzGerald is the chairman of Unilever PLC, Morris Tabaksblat is the chairman of the Dutch company.