Unilever Sales underlying sales growth picked up pace within the third quarter of 2022, spurred by price inflation with a limited impact to volume, causing the group to lift its guidance again for the complete 12 months.

The maker of brands starting from Dove and Tatcha to Ben & Jerry’s and Magnum generated sales of 15.8 billion euros within the three months ended Sept. 30, up 10.6 percent on an organic basis and 17.8 percent in reported terms versus the identical prior-year period.

The organic growth got here in 260 basis points ahead of monetary analysts’ consensus, in response to Bruno Monteyne, an analyst at Bernstein, in a note.

Unilever’s price growth has improved for seven consecutive quarters, reaching 12.5 percent in essentially the most recent three-month reporting period.

“Further evidence of pricing power and low elasticity is the positive here, with anticipated close to twenty percent raw material inflation in H1 2023 the offsetting caution, within the context of a plus-50 [basis points] FY23 operating margin consensus,” wrote Martin Deboo, an equity analyst at Jeffries, in a note.

The third-quarter results, reported before the opening of the London Stock Exchange on Thursday, marked several firsts for Unilever.

It was the primary time the corporate’s numbers reflected business from its recent corporate structure, put in effect on July 1. That divided the organization into five branches in what’s meant to be simpler, more category-focused activity.

It was also the primary time Unilever chief executive officer Alan Jope addressed the financial community following his announcement in late September that he plans to retire at the tip of 2023.

At the start of the decision with analysts on Thursday morning, Jope acknowledged his decision, but said there could be time to debate that in additional detail on other occasions.

“For now, it’s business as usual and my team and I are fully focused at the duty at hand running this great company,” he said.

Unilever’s price hikes, on account of rising inflation, were a key talking point in the course of the conversation.

“Taking price increases isn’t easy. We’re very mindful of the pressure that this puts on consumers,” the CEO said. “The inflation that we’re seeing from global materials markets, higher energy costs, the impact of climate change on agriculture and rising wages signifies that we must take prices up simply to guard our ability to speculate in our brands. This has been an explicit strategy implemented by Unilever early and with precision.”

Within the quarter, gains in each of Unilever’s five business units contributed to the corporate’s overall sales rise, while volumes declined only barely, by 1.6 percent.

“The billion-euro-plus brands led the best way,” said Jope. Together, those represent around 50 percent of Unilever’s sales and their revenues grew 14 percent.

Unilever’s reorganization is bearing fruit, in response to the chief.

“[It] is already increasing the clock speed of the corporate and sharpening key decisions and selections across the business,” said Jope, noting it stays early days and there remains to be much to do. “But we’re seeing strong signs of the advantages.”

Within the third quarter, Unilever’s Beauty and Wellbeing division’s underlying sales gained 6.7 percent, bolstered by price increases, but with a slight decline in volume, mainly in skincare and hair care. Prestige Beauty and Health and Wellbeing delivered double-digit growth, with Liquid I.V., Paula’s Selection and Living Proof having strong results. Sunsilk and Clear contributed to gains amongst hair care brands, and Pond’s and Vaseline were notable in skincare.

The Personal Care division’s sales rose 8.9 percent organically, with Jope calling deodorants “a standout, with Rexona, Dove and Axe all growing double-digit.”

Unilever’s Home Care, Nutrition and Ice Cream branches each notched up double-digit gains.

Group sales in the primary nine months of 2022 reached 45.6 billion euros, an 8.9 percent increase in organic terms and a 16.1 percent rise on a reported basis.

Within the period, overall sales in Unilever’s priority geographic markets were strong. Within the U.S., as an illustration, underlying sales growth was 8.6 percent.

“Whilst the provision situation is now improving, we proceed to face some systemic issues with labor availability, and that’s going to proceed into the fourth quarter,” said Jope.

Graeme Pitkethly, Unilever’s chief financial officer, said the U.S. consumer stays relatively robust.

“But inflation is now his or her number-one thought, and concerns about recession are growing,” he said, adding that market grew within the third quarter in each brick-and-mortar and e-commerce, but with smaller basket sizes.

Unilever’s sales in India grew 16.1 percent, while China reported positive underlying sales growth, despite the localized coronavirus-related lockdowns. Sales in emerging markets were up 13.3 percent.

For the fourth quarter of 2022, Unilever expects there to be a greater level of volume decline in comparison with the primary nine months of 2022.

The corporate further anticipates net material inflation, or NMI, this 12 months to stay unchanged at about 4.5 billion euros within the second half.

“Although some commodities have softened from their peaks, we expect cost pressure to hold forward into 2023, driven by currency devaluation, higher raw material costs versus useful covers in the primary half of 2022, and better supplier processing costs from energy and labor inflation,” said Unilever in a press release.

Subsequently, the corporate’s estimate for NMI in the primary half of 2023 versus first-half 2022 is about 2 billion euros, “with a variety of possible outcomes.”

Resulting from Unilever’s strong third-quarter sales, the corporate raised its guidance for full-year 2022 and now expects underlying sales growth to be above 8 percent. Previously, the group had anticipated it might be within the 4.5 percent to six.5 percent range.

Unilever also on Thursday maintained margin guidance of 16 percent for the complete 12 months.

“Growth is and can remain our overriding priority,” said Jope. “The outcomes show the resilience of consumer goods as a sector, the strength of our brands and our single-minded concentrate on operational execution during this era of high inflation.”