Unilever PLC on Tuesday reported strong interim revenue growth and said it expects to surpass its underlying sales growth guidance.

The London-based consumer goods firm posted a pretax profit of €4.36 billion for the first half of 2022, down 0.2% from €4.37 billion a year before.

Operating profit was €4.5 billion, up 1.7% from €4.4 billion.

Underlying operating profit growth was 4.1%.

The operating profit margin was 15.2% in the first half, down by two percentage points from a year before, though the underlying operating profit margin was 17.0%.

Revenue grew 15% to €26.62 billion from €25.79 billion.

Unilever cited a positive currency impact of 5.6% and a positive 0.6% impact from acquisitions net of disposals as reasons.

Further, Unilever said it generated underlying sales growth of 8.1% in the first half as it raised prices to counter rising costs and slumping volumes.

Underlying volume was down 1.6% in the first half and down 2.1% in the second quarter.

Worst hit was the Home Care division as the Covid-19 pandemic tailed off. Volume in Home Care was down 3.4% in the first half and 3.8% in the second quarter.

‘Household cleaner volumes declined as a result of a slowdown in consumers’ disinfecting habits,’ Unilever said.

The FTSE 100 firm declared a quarterly interim dividend of €0.4268, flat compared to a year before.

Unilever expects to surpass its underlying sales growth guidance for 2022 of 4.5% to 6.5%.

The company’s full year underlying operating margin expectation remains at 16%, which is within its guided range of 16% to 17%.

‘The medium-term macroeconomic and cost inflation outlooks are uncertain and volatile, but delivering growth remains our first priority. Against this backdrop, we continue to expect to improve margin in 2023 and 2024, through pricing, mix and savings,’ Unilever said.

Shares in Unilever were trading 2.2% higher at 4,004.00 pence each on Tuesday morning in London.

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