Good morning: Shares in the consumer goods giant Unilever are trading comfortably above the mooted £40 a share offer tabled by its rival Kraft back in February. A strategic review, a pledge to sell its low-growth spreads business, ambitious targets and a share buyback have sent the shares higher in recent months. We have got an upbeat trading statement from the company this morning that reports underlying sales growth of 2.6 per cent in the third quarter (in contrast to its rival Reckitt Benckiser, which cut its full-year outlook yesterday). “For the full year, we continue to expect underlying sales growth within the 3-5 per cent range, an improvement in underlying operating margin of at least 100 basis points and strong cash flow,” Paul Polman,…

Source: The Times October 19, 2017 08:03 UTC