April 30 (Reuters) – Consumer goods giant Unilever reported first-quarter underlying sales growth of 3.8% on Thursday, beating market expectations, on strong demand for its home care brands and beauty brands including Dove and Vaseline.
The maker of Dove soap and Hellmann’s mayonnaise kept its 2026 sales and profit margin forecast unchanged.
“We have started the year well with volume-led growth driven by our Power Brands and a positive performance across all Business Groups,” CEO Fernando Fernandez said in a statement.
Fernandez is reshaping Unilever to focus on personal care and beauty after spinning off its ice cream business last year and announcing plans last month to hive off its food division in a merger with U.S. spice maker McCormick.
Analysts were expecting underlying sales growth of 3.6% for the three months ended March, according to a company-compiled consensus. The company posted underlying volume growth of 2.9% for the quarter, beating estimates of a 1.8% growth.
(Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru and Richa Naidu in London; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)
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