Analyse and Evaluation of Unilever

Financial analysis has always been a strength of mine throughout my studies, with business analysis being my weakness. With this in mind, I chose topic number 8, “The business and financial performance of an organization over a three year period” for my research and analysis project. The reason for this is to build on my strength of financial analysis and to improve my understanding and application skills on business models.
When it came to choosing an organization, there was no other choice other than Unilever because this is the organization which has always fascinated me. This interest of mine was born by my curious nature. Whenever I use a product, I always want to know the details, such as what ingredients it has, which company manufactures it, what other varieties are available, etc. After a while, I noticed that every product from soap to tea which I used had one thing in common. This is a very unique logo which forms a ‘U’ and the name of Unilever.
I started wondering, how large is this company? What types of different products it produces? What industry sector does it belong to? After some research, I found out that Unilever Pakistan limited (UPL) produces a range of products and is a part of the Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector. When this opportunity arose, to choose a company of my liking, UPL was my only choice simply because I yearned to learn about it, as it has always fascinated me.
Objectives and Research Questions
The main objective of my report is to analyze the performance of UPL. Both business and financial performance will be assessed over a three year period, and the results compared with a comparator. This analysis will help answer the following research questions.
Does the significant advertising expenditure carried out by UPL impact its financial performance positively and is it really necessary?
Do any unlawful activities affect the performance of UPL? If so, which activities?
Overall Research Approach
The research approach