By Matthew Boyle
Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Unilever, the world’s second-largest consumer-goods maker, reported the weakest volume growth in almost three years as higher prices deterred consumers, and said it expects “gloomy” economic conditions to persist this year. The quantity of goods sold gained 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter, the London- and Rotterdam-based company said today, the least since the first quarter of 2009. That was below the 1.2 percent average estimate of 28 analysts compiled by the maker of Dove soap, Knorr soup and Magnum ice cream.
“Unilever have missed this morning on a closely watched metric that is at the heart of the company’s aspirations,” Martin Deboo, an analyst at Investec in London, said in a note.
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