Unilever - who operate the huge ice cream factory in Barnwood - have announced a 5.8 per cent increase in turnover for the third quarter of 2019.

Total revenue for the Anglo Dutch goods company were €13.3billion for the third 13 week period of the year, taking total revenues to €39.3billion for the nine months, up 1.5 per cent.

In a statement released this morning, Unilever announced that there was a slight decline in volumes of their food arm, partly due to the weather in 2018 being better, so ice cream sales fell in 2019.

Reporting on a 0.2 per cent decline in volume, the firm said: "The volume decline was driven by ice cream due to a strong comparator from particularly good weather in the prior year in Europe.

"Overall ice cream grew slightly, with an improved performance in the US."

The company's food arm, which covers Walls, Hellmann's, Pukka, Knorr and Lipton, saw sales of €3billion in the third quarter.

Alan Jope: Chief Executive Officer of Unilever said:"We have maintained momentum in the quarter, with a good balance between volume and price.

QWe are committed to delivering superior long-term financial performance and balanced, compound growth of the top and bottom line through our sustainable business model.

"We are taking action to remain relevant to the consumer of the future, such as setting stretching goals on plastic use which we recently announced.

"For the full year, we continue to expect underlying sales growth to be in the lower half of our multi-year 3-5 per cent range, an improvement in underlying operating margin that keeps us on track for the 2020 target and another year of strong free cash flow."