The maker of Magnum and Cornetto said Tuesday that the heat wave currently searing Europe could actually put consumers off the frozen dessert. When it comes to the weather, “there’s a sweet spot for temperature,” Unilever’s chief financial officer, Graeme Pitkethly, told journalists. “When it gets too hot, people move away from ice cream and buy a cold drink instead,” he said.
The consumer goods giant commands a fifth of global ice cream sales, according to Euromonitor. The company’s overall ice cream sales grew 5.7% in the first half of the year in value terms, compared with the same period in 2022. Sales growth was driven by a sharp increase in prices even as volumes dipped. Price rises across Unilever’s products helped push up its sales by 9.1% in the first half, even though volumes fell marginally.