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Unilever's new chief executive claimed it is not watering down its sustainability goals but ‘doubling down' on them. Hein Schumacher recently scrapped a whole string of targets for the household products and food giant but insisted today that it was just focusing on the more achievable ones.

Unilever said it continued to expect sales to grow 3% to 5% this year, with a modest improvement in operating margin, as volumes and price dynamics normalize.

First-quarter results from Unilever PLC (LSE:ULVR) beat market expectations but the Domestos and Magnum maker kept its full-year guidance unchanged. Turnover in the first three months of the year landed at €15 billion, up 1.4% on a year ago and above the €14.7 billion average forecast by City analysts.

Unilever's first-quarter sales grew by a better than expected 4.4%, it said on Thursday, as one of the world's biggest consumer goods companies won back shoppers who had traded down to cheaper products.

Multinational consumer goods company Unilever (NYSE: UL) released its latest financial results before markets opened today, on April 25th. The company experienced underlying sales growth of 4.4%, with All five Business Groups reporting underlying sales growth, led by Beauty & Wellbeing (up 3.1%) and Ice Cream (up 2.7%).

Unilever PLC (LSE:ULVR) is one of the 'most compelling' turnaround stories in the European consumer staples sector, according to Barclays, which provided the upbeat assessment of prospects ahead of the Cornetto and Persil maker's quarterlies on Thursday (April 25). According to the investment banking arm of the high street lender, the Anglo-Dutch giant set for a 3% organic sales growth (OSG), mirroring the performance of Procter & Gamble (P&G).

Unilever's new boss said he plans to dilute several of the group's previous ESG goals, including the amount of plastic the food and household products giant uses. In an interview with Bloomberg, Hein Schumacher said some targets would be relaxed to “ drive performance”.

Most of Unilever's sales come from emerging markets, providing a long growth runway. The planned separation of its ice cream unit creates a simplified, higher-margin business.

Unilever recently launched its productivity program, which includes splitting off its ice cream division. This division, although a sizeable part of the company, has been relatively underperforming over the years and is more capital-intensive. It seems that Unilever's restructuring plans are switching into higher gears, and the ice cream exit could be the first step of many improvements.

London may miss out on the float of Unilever PLC's (LSE:ULVR) €17 billion (£14.5bn) ice cream scoop-out, with Amsterdam seeming to be front-runner for the initial public offer destination.  The Anglo-Dutch giant said last week that it plans to spin off its ice cream unit, including Ben & Jerry's, Magnum and Walls.