Tepid summer leads to weaker ice cream sales for Unilever

The past summer was not one with a lot of hot days and that has had its effect on Unilever’s ice cream sales. The division’s sales therefore slumped 6.7 %.

Hurricanes

The entire group’s turnover dropped 1.6 % to 13.2 billion euro, even below analysts’ expectations. Negative exchange rate fluctuations have had their effect, but the ice cream division’s weak performance also contributed negatively. Like-for-like turnover still grew 2.6 %, but that was still below the anticipated 4 %.

The ice cream branch, including brands like Ben & Jerry’s and Magnum, suffered a 6.7 % turnover drop in Europe, several days after the news was revealed it would join forces with Italian Ferrero to create Kinder ice cream.

The weather in North America also had its effect: Unilever did not sell as much because of hurricanes Harvey and Irma’s devastating passage in Texas and Florida. “If we had one additional day of sales, we would have hit expectations”, CFO Graeme Pitkethly said according to ANP. “We assume the market will react to the disappointing news, but if investors take the hurricanes and rain into consideration, then they will understand. We have also kept our growth forecast, so that should instill trust into the market.”