Analysis of Ratios Profitability 1. Net Profit Margin - measures the amount of net income generated by sales.

. The net profit margin increased between the years 2008 to 2011 this can be attributed to a steady increase in sales for that period, there was a slight decrease in the profit margin in 2012 this is due to a significant increase of cost of sales by 4.57%. The change variation in the ratio in 2012 is therefore due to the change in the characteristic of operating expenses. Compared to Unilever N.V.'s gross profit margin which deteriorated from 2010 to 2011 but then slightly improved from 2011 to 2012.

2. Total Asset Turnover measures the activity of assets and its ability to generate sales There was a slow and steady increase in total assets turnover for the period 2008 to 2011 this can be attached to the fact that there were small increase in total assets. Unilever N.V.'s total asset turnover deteriorated from 2010 to 2011 but then improved from 2011 to 2012 exceeding 2010 level. 3. Return on Assets measures the firms ability to utilize its assets to create profit There was a significant increase from 12.36% in 2008 to 18.59% in 2011 and then a slight decline in 2012 to 17.75% Unilever N.V.'s ROA deteriorated from 2010 to 2011 but then improved from 2011 to 2012 not reaching 2010 level.

4. Operating Income Margin there was a steady increase for the period 2008 to 2012 this can be seen as operating profit increased by 48.94% in this 5 year period. Unilever N.V.'s operating profit margin deteriorated from 2010 to 2011 and from 2011 to 2012.

5. Operating Asset Turnover- measures the ability of operating assets to generate sales There was a moderate increase from 2008 to 2010 then which remained constant from 2011.

6. Return on Operating Assets- there was increase of 33.60% for the period 2008 to 2011 and then a decline in 2012

7. DuPont Return on Operating Assets increased significantly from 2008 to 2011 by 43.61%

8. Sales to Fixed Assets had a steady increase from 2008 to 2011 9. Return on Investment had a steady increase from 2008 to 2010 and then a slight decrease in 2011

10. Return on Total Equity increased slowly from 2008 to 2010 and then began to decline from 2011 to 2012 11. Return on Common Equity significant increase from 2008 to 2011 by 54.66% Unilever N.V.'s ROE improved from 2010 to 2011 but then slightly deteriorated from 2011 to 2012. 12. Gross Profit Margin - increased from 2008 to 2010 decreased in 2011 and then began to increase again in 2012. Unilever N.V.'s gross profit margin deteriorated from 2010 to 2011 but then slightly improved from 2011 to 2012.