LONDON, April 24 (Reuters) - Consumer goods group Reckitt's like-for-like sales growth beat estimates in the first quarter as more people bought its Lysol, Dettol and Finish cleaning products even as prices rose, it said in a trading update on Wednesday.
The company said it was on track to meet full-year revenue and profit targets, led by mid-single-digit growth across its health and hygiene businesses.
Reckitt's quarterly like-for-like net sales rose 1.5%, against 0.9% growth expected by analysts in a poll by the company.
"We continue to benefit from carryover pricing and consumers trading up to our premium innovations," said CEO Kris Licht.
Reckitt's other products include Nurofen tablets, cold remedy Lemsip and Durex condoms.
Consumer companies from Reckitt to Nestle have invested heavily in product innovation to win back shoppers who had turned to cheaper brands during the COVID-19 pandemic and more recent cost-of-living crisis in the belief that improvements to existing products will allow them to raise prices without taking a hit on sales volumes.
Reckitt said first-quarter volumes rose 2.9% at the company's hygiene business - its largest by revenue - but the price/mix metric that shows how much its products sold for rose by 4.2%.
The company's overall price/mix ratio rose 2% while volumes declined by 0.5%. Analysts had expected a 2.2% price/mix gain and volumes to decrease by 3.2%.
Reporting by Richa Naidu Editing by David Goodman
Source: Reuters