Unilever Q3 underlying sales growth beats expectations

Consumer goods giant Unilever reported a jump in third-quarter underlying sales on Thursday, underpinned by its power brands.

Third-quarter underlying sales grew 4.5%, coming in ahead of analysts’ expectations for 4.2% growth, with volume growth up 3.6%.

Unilever said that its power brands - which include Dove, Comfort and Magnum - led the growth, with 5.4% growth in underlying sales and volumes 4.3% higher.

Overall turnover was €15.2bn, flat on the previous year. Unilever said there was a 2.8% impact from currency and 1.5% from net disposals.

The company reiterated its outlook for the full year. It continues to expect underlying sales growth to be within its multi-year range of 3% to 5%, with the majority of the growth being driven by volume.

Chief executive Hein Schumacher said: "We have delivered a fourth consecutive quarter of positive, improved volume growth, with each of our business groups driving higher volumes year-on-year.

"Underlying sales grew 4.5%, led by our power brands, with particularly strong performances from Dove, Liquid I.V., Comfort and Magnum. Price growth continued to moderate in line with our expectations.

"We are still in the early stages of transforming our performance as we execute the Growth Action Plan at pace - focused on doing fewer things, better and with greater impact. We are starting to see the positive impact from scaling fewer, bigger innovations across our markets supported by increased brand investment. We are taking decisive actions, where we see operational or market challenges to ensure we are well positioned for consistent and improved performance. As part of the Group's overall transformation, we are implementing a comprehensive productivity programme and the separation of Ice Cream, both of which are progressing as planned.

"We are on track to deliver our 2024 outlook and are confident that the steps we are taking will help to transform Unilever over time into a consistently higher performing business."