Unilever lifted its revenue forecast for the year after hiking prices by 12.5% in the third quarter, while sacrificing only 1.6% in volume.
The price rise — which according to Bloomberg News was its largest ever — helped the maker of Hellmann’s mayonnaise and Lipton iced tea record what it calls underlying sales growth of 10.6% for the third quarter, which was ahead of consensus estimates for 8% growth. Its overall revenue rose 17.8% to €15.8 billion ($15.9 billion).
“The global macroeconomic outlook remains mixed, and we expect the challenges of high inflation to persist in 2023,” said CEO Alan Jope.
Inflation in the eurozone is running at about 10% year-over-year, and at around 8% in the U.S.
Unilever now sees its full year underlying sales growth to be 8%, its third hike in guidance this year.
Unilever ULVR, +0.08% UL, -0.33% shares were steady on Thursday. The company’s stock has slipped 2% this year.
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