Unilever’s quartely sales growth has beaten estimations as the consumer goods company reported a 10.5% rise in underlying sales to £13.1 billion.
The growth, which was partly driven by Hellmann’s mayonnaise with its ‘Make taste not waste‘ campaign, came above analyst expectations of 7.6%, Bloomberg reported.
Its Nutrition sector saw growth of 11.9%, with 13.4% from price and a slightly negative volume of 1.3% driven by Scratch Cooking Aids.
Unilever’s dressings category also delivered strong price-driven growth, however with positive volume.
“Unilever has had a good start to the year, delivering another quarter of strong topline growth. Underlying sales growth accelerated to 10.5%, driven by price growth in response to continued high input cost inflation and an improved volume performance,” CEO, Alan Jope said.
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Underlying sales for Unilever’s Ice Cream division increased by 6% with 10.5% from price, partially offset by negative volume of 4.1%.
While in-home ice cream grew low single-digit and volumes declined, as consumption remained impacted by inflation, out-of-home ice cream increased double-digit with positive price and volume.
Unilever ice cream brand, Magnum grew strongly, supported by new product innovations and Cornetto also grew double-digit, helped by the launch of limited edition variants.
Jope said: “We have stepped up both the effectiveness of our innovation and the investment behind our brands. Our new operating model is driving focused resource allocation, and is unlocking a culture of bolder, faster decision-making and disciplined execution.”
Looking ahead, he added that Unilever remains “focused on navigating through continued macroeconomic uncertainty” and is confident in its ability “to deliver another year of strong growth,” which remains its “first priority.”
