By Kyle Morris
Unilever PLC said in a trading statement Thursday that third-quarter underlying sales and turnover rose as price growth accelerated and volumes fell, and lifted its sales guidance for the year
The Anglo-Dutch retailer–which owns consumer brands such as Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and Dove soap–said quarterly underlying sales rose 11% on year and that turnover increased 18% to 15.8 billion euros ($15.94 billion). This compares with turnover of EUR13.5 billion in the year-earlier period.
For the first nine months of the year, underlying sales rose 8.9% and turnover was up 16% to EUR45.6 billion.
Price growth stepped up to 12.5% in the quarter, with volumes declining 1.6%.
The company said that it now expects underlying sales growth for 2022 to be above 8%, with more negative underlying volume growth than in the first nine months. At its half-year results in July, Unilever said that it saw underlying sales growth ahead of the previously guided range of 4.5% to 6.5%.
The board maintained its quarterly dividend at 42.68 European cents.
“Unilever has delivered another quarter of growth in challenging macroeconomic conditions. Underlying sales growth improved to 10.6%, led by further increases in pricing with only a limited impact on volume, and w e now expect underlying sales growth for the full year 2022 to be above 8%,” Chief Executive Alan Jope said.
“The global macroeconomic outlook remains mixed, and we expect the challenges of high inflation to persist in 2023. The delivery of consistent growth remains our first priority,” he added.
Cost pressure is set to continue into 2023, driven by currency devaluation, higher raw material costs on year, and higher supplier processing costs connected to energy and labor inflation, the company said.
Write to Kyle Morris at [email protected]
