By Siddharth Cavale
(Reuters) - Second-quarter sales at Unilever (L:ULVR) (AS:UNA) fell much less than expected as a pick up in eating at home during coronavirus lockdowns boosted demand for products such as Knorr soups and Breyers ice cream.
Shares in the consumer goods giant jumped as much as 8.7% in early Thursday trading, as the Anglo-Dutch group surprised analysts who had expected a much bigger hit to sales from the closure of restaurants, schools, cinemas and outside venues.
"Overall, Unilever's strong performance in the period and an increasingly focused strategy has led to a sigh of overdue relief from investors," said Richard Hunter, head of markets at interactive investors.
Underlying sales fell 0.3% in the three months ended June 30, compared with analysts' mean forecast for a 4.3% drop.
That was still the first decline in quarterly sales since the third quarter of 2004, according to Jefferies analysts.
Underlying sales in North America jumped 7.3% in the first half, with volumes up as much as 20% in some categories, Chief Financial Officer Graeme Pitkethly told a media call. The United States is Unilever's biggest market by revenue.
Breyers, Magnum and Klondike ice-cream, along with Hellmann's mayonnaise and Knorr soups, were strong performers in food, while Suave beauty products did well in hygiene, he said.
However, Pitkethly injected a note of caution, noting a rapid rise in coronavirus cases in some regions recently.
"Things are starting to get into the toughest phase in Latin America and Africa," he said, adding a surge in gang-related violence in Mexico was making business difficult there.
Highlighting the huge disruptions caused by the pandemic, Unilever said food service sales declined by nearly 40% and out of home ice cream by nearly 30% in the first half. E-commerce sales, however, leapt 49%.
TEA REVIEW
Unilever also said that after exploring options for its 3 billion euro (2.73 billion pounds) a year tea business, it had decided to keep its operations in India and Indonesia and its ready-to-drink joint venture with PepsiCo (O:PEP).
The rest of the tea business, which sells Pukka Herb and PG Tips and made 2 billion euros of revenues in 2019, will be separated into an independent entity, a process the company expects to conclude by the end of 2021.
Some analysts think Unilever could ultimately be more exposed to the pandemic than rivals such as Procter & Gamble (N:PG) and Nestle (S:NESN) due to its higher reliance on emerging markets, where it makes about 60% of annual sales.
Brazil, India and Russia - respectively the countries with the second, third and fourth most COVID-19 cases - are key emerging markets for Unilever.
Underlying sales in developed markets rose 2.4% in the first half, while they declined 1.9% in emerging markets.
In China - where the virus first emerged and was first brought under control - sales returned to mid-single digit growth in the second quarter, although food service remained challenging, the company said.
(Graphic: Unilever shares vs peers - https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/nmopalnayva/Unilever%20shares%20vs%20peers.PNG)