Unilever reported better than expected sales for the first quarter on Thursday, showing improvement from the hammering it took last year from weak emerging markets including a slowdown in China.

The Anglo-Dutch maker of Dove soap, Lipton tea and Ben & Jerry's ice cream, said underlying sales rose 2.8 per cent in the quarter, excluding the impact of currency moves, acquisitions and disposals.

Analysts on average were expecting a gain of 2.1 per cent, according to a company-supplied poll.

Unilever had forecast in January that sales would rise by between 2 per cent and 4 per cent in 2015, with the first quarter at the low end of the range and improvements during the year.

It said at the time that this year's performance would be similar to 2014, when Unilever posted slightly weaker than expected growth of 2.9 percent after economic weakness curbed demand for everything from soup to soap. It was the industry's weakest year in recent memory.

Unilever Chief Executive Paul Polman said at the time that he was not planning for any significant improvement in market conditions this year.

Sales growth likely in top half of range

Unilever chief financial officer narrowed the consumer goods giant's sales growth goal on Thursday after a strong start to the year, helped by an early Easter holiday and a better-than-expected performance in China.

The maker of Dove soap and Ben & Jerry's ice cream said in January it expected full-year sales growth of about 2 to 4 percent. CFO Jean Marc Huet told Reuters on Thursday it would "probably be in the top half".

Huet stressed that the performance only reflected 90 days, but said "there's just more confidence".

Related Topics