Amsterdam - Unilever NV, owner of the Dove, Lipton and Ben & Jerry's brands, says first half earnings rose 10 percent as the company cut costs and passed on higher raw materials costs to customers.
Net profit was €2.235bn, from €2.035bn in the same period a year earlier. Sales rose 4.1% to €22.1 billion. Unilever didn't present full numbers for the second quarter, but said "underlying" sales growth - a nonstandard measure that strips out the impact of acquisitions and disposals - was 7.1% in the quarter.
For the first half as a whole, the company said margins were down 0.2%.