First-quarter results from Unilever PLC (LON:ULVR) beat market expectations across the board but the Domestos and Magnum maker kept its full-year guidance unchanged.
Turnover in the first three months of the year landed at €15 billion, up 1.4% on a year ago and above the €14.7 billion average forecast by City analysts.
Underlying sales growth (USG) was 4.4%, down from 4.7% in the fourth quarter of last year, but better than the 3.0% City consensus forecast.
Underlying sales volumes improved to 2.2% from 1.8% in Q4 and 0.2% for the whole of last year, as well as beating market expectations.
As this implied, underlying price growth slowed to 2.2% from 2.8% in the previous quarter, but was higher than the City consensus of 1.8%.
The main drivers of growth remained from the fourth quarter, but the pace slowed slightly, with the Beauty & Wellbeing division generating 7.4% USG (from 7.9% in Q4 and 8.3% last year), and Personal Care, up 4.8% (6.4% and 8.9%).
Home Care at 3.1% was an improvement, Nutrition at 3.7% was a decline, and the Ice Cream business, which is being prepared for sale, swung back into growth.
The 30 leading ‘power brands’, which contribute around 75% of turnover, saw 6.1% USG, down from 6.5% in the fourth quarter and 8.6% last year, though volume growth of 3.8% was little changed.
