The International Top 30.

1. Unilever London, United Kingdom (44) 020.7822.5252 www.unilever.com

Sales: $20.8 billion

Sales: $20.8 billion for household and personal care products. Corporate sales: $53.6 billion. Net income: $3.3 billion.

Key Personnel: Niall FitzGerald, chairman; Antony Burgmans, chairman; Keki Dadiseth, home and personal care director; Clive Butler, corporate development director; Jeff Fraser, president, home and personal care, Asia; Ralph Kugler, president, Home and Personal Care Europe; Anton Lenstra, president, home and personal care, Latin America; Harish Manwani, president, home and personal care North America; Rachid M. Rachid, president, North Africa, Middle East and Turkey group.

Marketing Director: Simon Clift, president, marketing, home and personal care.

Major Products: Personal care--Axe/Lynx, Rexona/Sure and Degree deodorants; House of Valentino, House of Cerruti and Calvin Klein fragrances; Dove, Caress, Lux and Lever 2000 soaps; Pond's and Vaseline skin care products; Organics, Salon Selectives, SunSilk, Suave and ThermaSilk hair care products; Mentadent, Close-Up, Signal and Pepsodent oral care products. Household products--Ala, All, Omo and Wisk laundry detergents; Comfort and Snuggle fabric softeners; Domestos, Cif; DiverseyLever professional cleaning products.

New Products: Dove exfoliating bar, Dove foam conditioner, Dove face care and Dove shampoo and conditioner, Dove Regenerating Care hand cream and Protective Care hand balm, Suave for Men, Suave Professional, Degree Ironman and Axe Dry antiperspirants and deodorants and Purple Orchid, Truth for Men, Nautica and Vera Wang for Men fragrances.

Comments: Profitability is paramount at Unilever. The company's Path to Growth strategy continues to pay dividends even as currency fluctuations wreak havoc with results. As one of the biggest global players in the consumer products market, Unilever is greatly affected by currency fluctuations. For example, in 2003, corporate sales fell 12%, but at constant 2002 exchange rates, sales declined just 2%. Meanwhile, group operating profit jumped 10% at current exchange rates and surged 20% at constant 2002 rates.

But regardless of whether results are measured in euros, pounds, dollars or dinars, leading brands continued to boost Unilever's results through

2003 in the home and personal care division.

It's all part of Unilever's "Path to Growth" strategy, which is focused on core brands. As a result, in fiscal 2003 Unilever sold its oral care business and Brut fragrances in North America and Bio Presto in Italy. Most recently, the company sold its Sunlight dishwash detergent in North America.

In a speech on innovation presented at The Hague in April, Unilever co-chairman Antony Burgmans noted that by the end of 2004, Unilever will have only 400 brands, down from about 1,200 just five years ago. Despite the decline in brands, product volume remains as it was five years ago, but with 140 fewer factories worldwide.

"We have stripped out 4 billion [euro] ($4.8 billion at current exchange rates) of costs on an annual basis," observed Mr. Burgmans. "Despite all these cutbacks, the operational cash flow has been structurally increased from 2.5 [euro] to 4 billion ($3-4.8 billion) a year.

In the home and personal care segment, sales declined 12% to $23.5 billion and operating profit fell 4% to $3.5 billion. Unilever said growth in developing markets was partially offset by tough conditions in North America and Europe.

More specifically, home care sales fell 16%, with currency movements accounting for nearly two-thirds of that decline. Sales of personal care products fell 9%, with currency movements contributing a 13% decline. But if one discounts currency effects, several leading personal care brands posted stellar results in 2003. For example, Dove, Unilever's largest personal care brand, grew underlying sales more than 20%. The brand received a boost from the launch of Dove exfoliating bar in more than 30 countries and the debut of Dove face care and Dove shampoo and conditioner in North America.

Similarly, hair care sales rose 8% at constant exchange rates due to the success of Dove shampoo and conditioner and Sunsilk. Unilever is the biggest player in the global antiperspirant and deodorant market and last year it extended its lead via a 12% jump in underlying sales. Much of that growth was attributed to the growing strength of Axe and Rexona.

The same conditions continued to hamper results in the first quarter of 2004. Corporate sales fell 2.2% to $9.8 billion, while underlying sales rose 0.4% and sales of leading brands rose 1.3%.

In July, Unilever Cosmetics International formed an international division based in Geneva. The new branch was formed when UCI merged its global travel retail and export division. As a result, the European marketing headquarters in London will close and several executives will get new titles, including Shelley Smyth, who has been named vice president marketing international and Rick Bohon, who is now marketing director, Europe.

Next month, Niall FitzGerald will retire from the boards of Unilever PLC and N.V. and from the chairmanship of Unilever PLC and the vice chairmanship of Unilever N.V. He will be succeeded by Patrick Cescau, who is currently foods director. Mr Cescau joined Unilever in 1973 and was elected a director in 1999.

Mr. FitzGerald joined Unilever in 1967 and was elected to the board as financial director in 1987. He subsequently served in the foods division before being appointed detergents coordinator. He was elected vice chairman of Unilever PLC in 1994 and was appointed chairman of Unilever PLC and vice chairman of Unilever N.V. in September 1996. Kees van der Graaf, who had been president, ice cream and frozen foods Europe, will succeed Mr. Cescau as foods director.

2. L'Oreal Clichy, France (33) 1.47.56.70.00 www.loreal.com

Sales: $15.5 billion

Sales: $15.5 billion for cosmetics. Corporate sales: $15.8 billion. Net profit: $1.8 billion.

Key Personnel: Lindsay Owen-Jones, chairman and chief executive officer; Beatrice Dautresme, executive vice president, strategic business development; Giorgio Galli, executive vice president, corporate communications and external affairs; Jean-Francois Grollier, executive vice president, research and development; Marcel Lafforgue, executive vice president, production and technology; Jean-Jacques Lebel, president, professional products; Patrick Rabain, president, consumer products; Francois Vachey, executive vice president, human resources; Gilles Weill, president, luxury products.

Major Products: Hair care, skin care, sun care, color cosmetics, toiletries and fragrances marketed under such brand names as Biotherm, Cacheral, Carson, Helena Rubinstein, Lancome, Lanvin, La Roche-Posay, L'Oreal, L'Oreal Paris, L'Oreal Professionnel, L'Oreal Perfection, L'Oreal Kids, Kerastase, Redken, Inne, Laboratoires Garnier, Giorgio Armani, Harley Davidson, Matrix, Maybelline, Jade, Gemey Paris, Jean-Louis David, Dop, Cadonet, Jacques Dessange, Ralph Lauren, Redken, Soft Sheen and Vichy.

New Products: Professionnel--Luo Color, Keratase Age-Recharge and Nutri-Sculpt; Redken Color Fusion; Matrix Color Sync and Socolor Beauty; Consumer--L'Oreal Paris Decontract 'Rides with Boswelox, Double Extension mascara, Couleur Experte; Garnier Fructis, Garnier 100% Color, Garnier Lift; Maybelline New York Forever Metallics, Wonder Finish, Sky High Curves. Luxury Products--Cacharel Amor Amor, Armani Emporio Night, Ralph Lauren Polo Blue, Lancome Attraction, Helena Rubinstein Color Clone; Active Cosmetics--Inneov. To be launched: ReFinish Micro-Dermabrasion kit.

Comments: Corporate sales fell 1.8%, but rose more than 7% on a like-for-like basis. Cosmetics account for nearly 98% of sales, with dermatology products just more than 2% of sales. Within the cosmetic segments, sales of consumer products fell 1.2%, luxury products fell 5.5%, professional products rose 0.1% and active cosmetics jumped 7.8%. Consumer products represented 54.8% of sales in 2003, followed by luxury products (25.1%), professional products (13.9%) and active cosmetics (5.5%).

By product category, hair care represented 25.2% of sales, followed by makeup and skin care (each with 21.3%), colorants (17.9%), perfumes (10.9%) and other (3.3%). By geographic region, Western Europe accounted for 52.7% of sales, followed by North America (27.6%) and rest of the world (19.7%).

Sales within L'Oreal's professional division are growing at twice the rate of the overall professional market, driven by the introduction of the Luo Color colorants line in Europe, as well as the continued success Serie Expert hair care range. Sales of Redken jumped more than 9%. This year, L'Oreal expects the continued geographic expansion of Matrix to fuel growth.

Consumer product sales were paced by strong gains in skin care (up 24%), as well as surging consumer acceptance for Garnier products, which reported a sales gain of 18.4%. Maybelline New York suffered through a decline in sales in Western Europe and the U.S., even as it scored spectacular gains Taiwan and China, where company executives are determined to put a lipstick "into the hands of every Chinese woman." To reach that goal, the output of the Maybelline factory at Suzhou has been increased as the company doubled the number of units of lipstick sold last year.

With consolidation in the U.S. ethnic market, SoftSheen.Carson continued streamlining its operations. Still, the division celebrated the opening of the Chicago-based L'Oreal Institute for Ethnic Hair and Skin Research. In Africa, the brand recorded double-digit growth.

Meanwhile, Club des Createurs de Beaute (CCB), a cosmetics mail-order and internet sales company, consolidated its position in Europe and achieved double-digit growth in Asia, Japan and Taiwan. CCB is a joint venture between L'Oreal and 3 Suisses.

In the luxury division, sales fell nearly 6%, but were up more than 4% on a like-for-like basis. Division president Gilles Weil, noted that sales in Eastern Europe (up 13.4%), Asia (up 13%) and Latin America (15.9%). Within the division, fragrance sales accounted for 39.5% of sales, followed by skin care (35.8%) and makeup (24.7%).

As the world's largest maker of prestige fragrance, L'Oreal benefited from the upswing in travel retail, as well as good performances in Spain, Great Britain and China. To maintain momentum in 2004 and beyond, the division has developed a five-point strategy:

* Numerous launches from flagship brands;

* Innovation in the marketing of new product initiatives;

* Improving emphasis on brand profiles to enhance the complementary nature of the portfolio and achieve greater target segmentation;

* Increasing efficiency of growth-driving resources through greater concentration and

* Enhancing working methods to further improve productivity.

Lancome posted big gains in China (up 72.5%) and Eastern Europe (up 17%). The big launch in 2003 was the introduction of Resolution, which is billed as the first anti-wrinkle cream to reduce dermo-creases by smoothing wrinkles from within. Similarly, Biotherm posted a 7.6% increase in sales, with the highest rates recorded in Eastern Europe (29.2%), Japan (26.5%) and Asia (25%). Elsewhere, Helena Rubinstein rolled out several new products, while fragrance sales (Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren, Cacharel, Guy Laroche and Paloma Picasso) rose 3.2%. Last year, L'Oreal purchased controlling interest in Shu Uemura.

The active cosmetics division achieved like-for-like growth of 11.9%, with Western Europe accounting for nearly 75% of sales. The big challenge for the group, then, is to make inroads in the U.S. and Japan, which have populations aging as quickly as Western Europe. In 2003, the group improved its positions in facial skin care, body care, acne, foundation and hair care. By brand, Vichy's sales rose 11% and LaRoche-Posay's sales jumped 13.4%.

With its cadre of personal care products sold in mass, prestige and professional channels, L'Oreal entered a new market in 2003 with the introduction of Inneov, a line of nutritional cosmetics that was created via a joint-venture with Nestle. Last year, the group launched Inneov Firmness in pharmacies in nine European countries.

The good news continued through the first half of 2004. Consolidated sales of L'Oreal totaled $8.9 billion (at current exchange rates). Growth in the second quarter was up 6.1%. Like-for-like sales growth increased 6.4%. For the six months, currency fluctuations reduced sales by 3.3%. Cosmetics sales topped $8.6 billion (up 3.8%). Here's how sales broke out by operating division: Professional Products $1.2 billion (up 4.9%), Consumer Products $4.8 billion (up 2.2%), Luxury Products $1.9 billion (up 4.0%) and Active Cosmetics $600 million (up 16.0%).

According to L'Oreal, with like-for-like growth of 6.5%, the company's increase in cosmetic sales once again outstripped market growth in the first half-year. The company boasted that the performance in North America was particularly noteworthy, with sales rising by 6.2%. Results in Western Europe were hampered by sluggish markets in France, Germany and Italy. The revival in the consumption of luxury products was held back by stock reductions in selective distribution channels.

Lastly, like-for-like growth was very strong in the rest of the world, rising 21.4%. Sales growth was particularly dynamic in Asia (up 22.1%), with an increase of 85.3% for China, in Latin America (up 17.9%), with a rise of 16.3% in Mexico and lastly in Eastern Europe (up 33.4%), with sales in the Russian Federation rising 46.3%.

3. Henkel Dusseldorf, Germany (49) 211.797.0 www.henkel.com

$5.7 billion

Sales: $5.7 billion for laundry and…