Operating Review – Regions

Basis of reporting

In this Operating Review we comment on our changes in revenue on the basis of underlying sales growth (USG). This measure reflects the change in revenue at constant rates of exchange, (average exchange rates for the preceding year) excluding the effects of acquisitions and disposals. It is a measure that provides valuable additional information on the underlying performance of the business. In particular, it presents the organic growth of our business year on year and is used internally as a core measure of sales performance.

USG is not a measure which is defined under IFRS. It should not be considered in isolation from, or as a substitute for, financial information presented in compliance with IFRS. This measure as reported by us may not be comparable with similarly titled measures reported by other companies.

The reconciliation of USG to changes in turnover for each of our reporting regions is given in the following sections, and for the Group in total in the Financial review.

The reporting in this section is based on results for continuing operations. Information about discontinued operations is given in note 27.