Paul Polman, chief executive of Unilever, has said that global goods giant Unilever suffered a “challenging” 2015, seeing profits fall 5% and said that 2016 would be a year of “high volatility”.

Emerging markets, where Unilever makes 58% of its sales, grew 7.1%, although there was little, if any, growth in established regions.   

Mr Polman commented: “We are preparing ourselves for tougher market conditions and high volatility in 2016, as world events in recent weeks have highlighted. Therefore it is vital that we drive agility and cost discipline across our business.

"We are further strengthening our innovation funnel while shortening innovation cycle times, stepping up our digital capabilities and rolling out a global zero based budgeting programme. Our priorities continue to be volume-driven growth ahead of our markets, steady improvement in core operating margin and strong cash flow."