By Richa Naidu LONDON (Reuters) – Consumer goods companies are likely to post stronger fourth-quarter sales growth in Europe than in the United States, monthly data indicates, boosted by persistently higher prices in countries like Britain, France and Germany even as Americans paid less. Companies like Procter & Gamble and Nestle began hiking prices in the United States at the end of 2021, driven initially by a pandemic-led freight and input cost crisis. The hikes, which ramped up following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, were easier to take in the United States than Europe because contracts wit…