By Richa Naidu
LONDON (Reuters) - Unilever (NYSE:UL), which makes Ben & Jerry's and Magnum ice creams, said on Tuesday that it hopes to sell more ice cream in Europe this summer but extreme temperatures could dent sales as consumers turn to fizzy drinks instead.
This month has seen record-breaking temperatures in southern Europe and the World Meteorological Organization has warned the heat wave in the northern hemisphere is set to intensify.
Unilever's ice cream business, which includes the Wall's brands, accounts for about 15% of group turnover.
"Will we see more ice cream sales? I very much hope so," Unilever finance chief Graeme Pitkethly said.
"There's a sweet spot for temperatures when I talk about the weather," Pitkethly said. "If it gets to be too hot - and we can see incredible temperatures around Europe at the moment, there's some data showing people perhaps move away from an ice cream and buy a cold drink instead."
In quarterly results it reported on Tuesday the company said out-of-home ice cream underlying sales grew by a double-digit percentage with positive price and volume growth.
In Europe, poor weather in April and May was largely offset by good weather in June, Unilever noted.
Unilever owns, loans and maintains 3 million ice cream freezers around the world, according to its website.
Some analysts expect the global market for impulse ice cream buying to grow 5.7% between 2023–2028.