Unilever PLC (LSE:ULVR) reported better sales growth in the first quarter than City analysts expected and kept its full-year outlook unchanged.
The FTSE 100 consumer goods giant said its plan to spin off its ice cream unit, which it revealed will be called The Magnum Ice Cream Company, remained on track to be completed by the end of the year.
Overall group underlying sales grew 3.0% in the first three months of 2025, of which 1.3% was volume growth and 1.7% from price increases. This compares to the average analyst forecast of 2.7%.
Personal Care (brands such as Dove and Lynx) and Beauty & Wellbeing (Sunsilk, Vaseline) led the growth, up 5.1% and 4.1% respectively on an underlying basis. Ice cream (Magnum, Ben & Jerry's) grew 4.0%, Foods (such as Marmite and Hellmans) 1.6% and Home Care (Cif, Comfort) lagging with 0.9%.
Total turnover on a reported basis fell 0.9% to €14.8 billion, including a 2.7% impact from net disposals.
The full-year outlook for 3-5% underlying sales growth and modest operating margin improvement was unchanged, with Unilver saying the direct impact of tariffs on profitability is "expected to be limited and manageable".
New CEO Fernando Fernandez, appointed in a shock February move, said the year started with "a resilient performance", with "interventions in place in some emerging markets to step up growth in the remainder of the year".
He added: "Creating desirability at scale for our brands and brilliant in-market execution are the pillars of our plan to turn Unilever into a consistently higher performing business. We are moving at pace, confident in making progress in 2025 and beyond."