Jefferies says World Cup and stockpiling flattered Unilever's standout quarter Proactive uses images sourced from ShutterstockJefferies has raised its price target for Unilever PLC (LSE:ULVR) to 3,900p from 3,800p while sticking with an underperform rating, arguing that the consumer goods group's headline second-quarter volume growth was inflated by roughly 2 percentage points of one-off factors. Volume and mix growth at the core business, covering home and personal care alongside retained foods, came in at about 7.4%, beating consensus by 4.4 percentage points. Unilever's sponsorship of the North American World Cup, where it was the sole personal care partner, added an estimated 3 percentage points to that division through merchandising and promotional discounting. The timing of Amazon Prime Day shifting into the quarter added around €30 million, benefiting the beauty and wellbeing arm. Unilever has played down the pre-buying and World Cup effects, but Hayes said peer precedent, particularly at Procter & Gamble, made such dynamics inevitable.