Unilever lowers sales forecast on S Asia slowdown

Anglo-Dutch consumer giant Unilever, the maker of Magnum ice cream and Dove soap, warned Tuesday that sales will grow below expectations for 2019, due largely to a slowdown in South Asia.

The firm, whose products also include Ben and Jerry's ice cream and divisive yeast spread Marmite, said growth would be "slightly below its guidance of the lower half of its 3-5 percent multi-year range".

"Due to challenges in certain markets, we expect a slight miss to our full year underlying sales growth delivery," chief executive Alan Jope said in a statement. Growth in the first half of 2020 was also expected to come in below three percent for the firm whose whose 400 brands further include Knorr and Lipton tea, he added.

Unilever said the miss was "a result of challenges in the quarter in some markets, including the economic slowdown in South Asia, one of Unilever's largest markets, and trading conditions in West Africa remaining difficult."