An upgrade to revenue guidance at Unilever? Is that meant to happen in the midst of an inflationary shock and a squeeze on household budgets? Well, yes, it is – as long as shoppers are willing to pay more for brands such as Domestos bleach, Dove soap, Hellmann’s mayonnaise and Wall’s ice-cream.
And, by and large, they coughed up. Unilever increased its prices by 9.8% in the first half of 2021, and by an eye-catching 11.2% in the second quarter, but the hit to the volume of goods sold was relatively modest at 1.6%. From Unilever’s point of view, that trade-off is tolerable, especially as a chunk of the volume decline was accounted for by locked-down China.
