Unilever Q3 earnings rise 37 pc, sales gain 1.2 pc

AMSTERDAM: Unilever NV, the maker of consumer products such as Lipton teas, Dove soaps and Ben & Jerry's ice cream, said earnings jumped 37 per cent in the third quarter on modest growth and lesser financing costs than a year ago.

Net profit at the Anglo-Dutch company was euro1.01 billion ($1.46 billion), up from euro737 million, while sales rose 1.2 per cent to euro10.2 billion ($14.7 billion).

A year ago, Unilever took a euro300 million charge after converting preference shares issued in 1999 to ordinary shares. The company said that sales were impacted by the weak dollar and disposals of noncore brands, masking stronger underlying growth of 4.5 per cent.

"Savory, dressings, spreads and home care performed particularly well in the third quarter," said Unilever, which also makes Knorr soups, Wishbone dressings Hellmann's mayonnaise, and a range of common household detergents.

The company said that inflation was pushing its purchasing prices up, but so far that hasn't hurt margins: the company cut costs and passed prices rises on to consumers by raising selling prices.

"We have seen a third consecutive quarter of underlying improvement in operating margins, despite a significantly tougher cost environment,'' said Chief Executive Patrick Cescau in a statement. ``Commodity pressures have increased sharply, but we have successfully offset these through timely pricing action and continued delivery from our savings programmes."

The company said its ice cream and beverage sales had grown well in developing markets, but fell in Europe due to poor weather.