Unilever said it was outpacing rivals ‘by a mile’ in the US thanks to booming demand for beauty brands including Dove.
The company, whose brands also include Hellmann’s mayonnaise and Domestos disinfectant, said sales rose 3.9 per cent in the third quarter thanks to a 2.4 per cent rise in prices and 1.5 per cent increase in volumes.
North American sales rose 5.5 per cent, with analysts at Barclays saying the region ‘absolutely stole the show’. Chief executive Fernando Fernandez said: ‘We are very pleased. We are outperforming markets by a mile there.’
Fernandez, who took the helm of the consumer goods giant in March, is streamlining the business, cutting costs and exploring sales of non-core brands to bolster margins amid weak consumer sentiment and economic uncertainty.
He said the US government shutdown had not dented consumer sentiment though it did spur a delay in the spin-off of its Magnum-led ice cream business, originally scheduled for November 10.
Unilever still expects to complete the spin-off this year. The ice-cream unit logged sales growth of 3.7 per cent.
Dove soap-maker Unilever said said sales rose 3.9% in the third quarter thanks to a 2.4% rise in prices and 1.5% increase in volumes
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