UNILEVER has hiked its prices over the past few months, in a bid to combat inflationary headwinds that are gripping businesses and households across the UK.

The consumer goods giant behind some of Britain's most loved products such as Ben & Jerrys, Dove, Hellmann's and Magnum, yesterday reported a turnover jump of nearly 12 per cent in the first quarter, with sales climbing 7.3 per cent.

However, underlying price growth crept up 8.3 per cent, following in the footsteps of other retailers including Nestle and PepsiCo.

CEO Alan Jope said that the British conglomerate had been performing "well in a very challenging input cost environment" but that there was more to do to tackle "unprecedented cost inflation".

Unilever added that it expects input cost inflation of around €2.1bn (£1.7bn) in the first half of this year - but that it is likely to get worse.

Russia's invasion of neighbouring Ukraine and the rising costs of raw materials and fuel have pushed it to expect a €2.7bn (£2.2bn) hit in the latter half of 2022.

"This is expected to put a damper on margins moving forward as the group tries to find a balance between covering rising input costs and keeping customers from abandoning branded products," Laura Hoy, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown said, with consumers likely to pull back as their wallets are "squeezed".

(c) 2022 City A.M., source Newspaper