Unilever Improves Its Yearly Projection and Boasts Its Strongest Quarterly Volumes

Despite household budget concerns brought on by the Iran conflict, Unilever (ULVR.L) opened a new tab, recorded its best quarter for volumes in more than ten years, and increased its annual outlook on Tuesday as consumers turned to its home care, beauty, and personal care brands.

The manufacturer of Axe deodorant and Dove soap reported a 5.5% increase in second-quarter volumes, driven by gains in important areas like Latin America, Indonesia, and India, which helped it easily surpass underlying sales growth projections.

Under Fernandez, who was hired last year to expedite its recovery strategy, the consumer products behemoth has been moving toward beauty and well-being brands.

Unilever has raised prices to lessen the impact of the Middle East crisis, which has caused businesses to incur higher expenditures this year.

The company stated that, contrary to its previous prediction of growth at the lower end of that range, it now anticipates underlying sales growth for 2026 to be within its multi-year forecast of 4%–6%.

Higher pricing is expected to create a 4%–5% increase in sales in the second half.

According to a company-compiled consensus, Unilever, which is merging its food division with spice manufacturer McCormick (MKC.N), posted underlying sales growth of 5.8% for the quarter ended June 30, compared with analysts’ average expectation of 4.3%.

The quarter’s turnover increased by 3.8% to €13 billion ($14.78 billion).

Unilever shared, the division of its food sector is going smoothly and should be finished by the middle of 2027 at the latest.