Shares of Unilever PLC (LON: ULVR) trade over 1% in the red today to extend weekly losses to about 4% after the consumer goods giant warned about a gloomy outlook.
Unilever reported higher-than-expected sales growth yesterday for the third quarter. Sales rose 4% on a y-o-y basis, easily beating market consensus of 1.3%.
Higher sales were driven by strong performance in the emerging markets, where sales jumped by 5.3%, compared to 3.1% in the developed markets. Sales in the United States, the company’s biggest market by revenue, jumped by 9.1%.
“The shift of consumption towards in-home seems to be providing a strong tailwind to the sector and is outweighing any exposure to the out-of-home market,” analysts at Bernstein said in a note.
However, the company’s CEO issued a warning about the future outlook and questioned hopes of a quick recovery.
“We’ve moved from response mode to now living with COVID-19, but the environment that we’re operating in remains highly unpredictable and we believe, an economic downturn is inevitable,” CEO Alan Jope.
Unilever share price currently trades at 4685p, or -0.76% on the day. Today’s low of 4660p represents the lowest the ULVR stock traded since September 22. Shares are down around 4% since Monday, just a week after printing the 1-year high at 4944p.
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