Comfort food and cleaning products: no wonder Unilever’s doing so well

The company's wide portfolio has been perfectly suited to pandemic shopping. This week's results will be strong again

A vast portfolio of food and household brands has allowed the consumer goods giant Unilever to navigate its way through the pandemic.

The maker of Domestos bleach, Dove soap and Cif cleaner benefited from a surge in demand for cleaning products in the initial stages of the health crisis. Its shares rose, and Unilever briefly became the most valuable company in the FTSE 100 index last year. And the company behind Marmite, Colman's mustard and Magnum ice-cream benefited from the forced shift to eating out less and cooking at home, which some analysts think could be a long-term change.