Unilever has bounced back from its disappointing fourth quarter sales in January by smashing analyst expectations for the first quarter.

The Anglo-Dutch company on Thursday reported an 8.4% leap in quarterly like-for-like sales - well ahead of the consensus forecast of 6.4% growth. The unexpected growth spurt and the leading role of volume in the result sparked a 3% jump in the share price to 2,141p in morning trading.

It was welcome news for Unilever after a torrid first couple of months in 2012 when strikes in the UK, disappointing Q4 trading figures and then fears of a resurgent Procter & Gamble shaved more than 100p off the share price.

As the UK officially re-entered recession this week, Unilever can also take heart from the 56% of its sales that it now makes in emerging markets.

Fellow consumer goods giant Associated British Foods has made steadier progress than Unilever so far this year. Its share price has increased gradually in 2012 (rising 6% overall) and it continued that upward momentum on Tuesday when an 11% increase in sales for the 6 months to 3 March propelled shares up 2% to 1,239p on the day.

The calm progress of ABF’s shares hides the poor performance of its grocery operations, however, which account for a third of sales. Despite its buoyant sugar division, grocery suffered a 31% H2 drop in operating profits. ABF blamed a high level of promotions for the Kingsmill brand in the UK and restructuring in Australia.

Another FTSE giant to report this week was British American Tobacco, whose share price has risen more than 8% since mid-January when CEO Nicandro Durante topped up his shareholding in the company and Credit Suisse identified it as one of 14 companies to offer “better value and safety than sovereign debt”. On Thursday, it reported like-for-like sales growth of 4%, narrowly missing analyst expectations and leaving the share price virtually unchanged at lunchtime at 3,156p.

A long way from Credit Suisse’s list is Premier Foods, which published like-for-like Q1 sales growth of 1.3% on Wednesday - hailed by Investec as “a reassuring start” but one that failed to convince investors as the share price dipped 4.5% to 15.75p on the day.

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