The Magnum Ice Cream Company’s shares have soared after the group smashed City growth forecasts.
Shares in the world’s largest ice cream company leaped by more than 10% at the end of April as stronger-than-expected volumes quelled the market’s nerves over GLP-1 weight-loss drugs.
Magnum’s first quarter sales grew 4.5% on an organic basis, handily beating analyst consensus of 2.6% for the three months to 31 March 2026.
The jump in revenues came from growing sales volumes, up 2.9% versus Q1 2025, with a smaller-than-expected rise in pricing of just 1.6%. The results mark the start of Magnum’s first full year as an independent company following its separation from Unilever in December 2025.
City analysts covering the stock had expected Magnum to gain just 0.2% in sales volumes in the quarter, after a 3% volume slump in Q4 2025 that cut its share price by around 16%.
“Q1 is a small quarter for ice cream, but the healthy volume contribution and beat on the back of a relatively tough Q1 comparative is encouraging,” said Barclays analyst Warren Ackerman.
Magnum’s push towards lighter product options and bite-size ‘Bon Bon’ formats has proved successful. In the US, where GLP-1s have the highest uptake at around 12%, frozen yoghurt brand Yasso and Popsicle ice lollies both enjoyed double-digit organic growth in the quarter.
While foreign exchange rates knocked overall revenues down by 1.2% to €1.8bn, the quarter to 31 March 2026 represented an “encouraging start” to the year, according to CEO Peter ter Kulve.
“In Q1 organic sales grew across both volume and price, which is a testament to the breadth of our portfolio and our competitive execution,” he said. “Every region contributed to positive growth, with strength in the US and Europe and continued gains in AMEA.”
Magnum reaffirmed its target of between 3% and 5% organic sales growth this year, with an improvement to adjusted EBITDA margin of between 40bps and 60bps, weighted towards the second half of the year.
Jefferies analyst David Hayes labelled the company a “modest” outperformer. “We expect the beat to be welcomed, though this is a small quarter,” he said.
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