LONDON—Unilever PLC Chief Executive Paul Polman on Thursday indicated the company isn't averse to making multibillion-dollar acquisitions should the right opportunity arise, a day after the consumer-goods giant said it was buying California startup Dollar Shave Club.

Meeting with journalists in London following the announcement of Unilever's first-half results, Mr. Polman said the company's strategy has been to make roughly €2 billion ($2.2 billion) in acquisitions a year, with the bulk of growth coming organically through investments in existing brands.

Unilever has agreed to pay $1 billion in cash for Dollar Shave Club, according to people familiar with that deal. The company last spring bought four high-end skin-care brands and in October bought Italian ice cream maker Grom.

Sitting at a table strewn with brands Unilever had acquired in recent years, including Ren skin-care products and T2 tea, Mr. Polman said the company would look at bigger deals along the lines of its 2011 $3.7 billion acquisition of Alberto Culver "if it makes sense." He declined to comment on specific categories in which Unilever might seek acquisitions.

Unilever's first priority once it buys Dollar Shave Club will be to accelerate its growth in the U.S., he said, after which the company will work to implement lessons it gets from that business's direct-to-consumer model across other units such as its T2 tea brand and high-end beauty brands.

"We are actually buying one of the disrupters," he said. "We will learn from that. We will disrupt ourselves."

Mr. Polman blamed the U.S. elections, Britain's vote to leave the European Union, the coup attempt in Turkey and the presidential impeachment in Brazil for creating sluggish demand in a string of markets.

The Turkish coup attempt hurt Unilever's ice cream sales, Mr. Polman said, adding that declines in tourism could lead to the company having to close its ice cream factories there for a couple of days.

He said Unilever would look to adjust prices in Britain to compensate for the fall in the pound following Brexit, but he declined to specify when and by how much. The company has 10 factories in the U.K., many of which make products that are exported to Europe, he added.

Despite the geographic disruptions and continued difficulties in businesses such as tea and spreads, Mr. Polman said Unilever's diverse product and geographic mix positions it to ride out volatility. "I've always said, don't worry about Unilever," he said. "People who buy into Unilever buy into the total company."

Write to Saabira Chaudhuri at saabira.chaudhuri@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 21, 2016 12:55 ET (16:55 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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