Unilever Q3 Profit Falls 36 Percent, Margins Rise

TOBY STERLING

AMSTERDAM (AP) — Unilever NV, maker of Dove soaps and Ben & Jerry's ice cream, reported Thursday that third-quarter net profit fell 36 percent, mostly because year-ago earnings benefited from the sale of a unit, but said margins improved.

The consumer goods company made euro1.05 billion ($1.56 billion), down from euro1.64 billion in the same period last year, when it booked a euro487 million gain on the sale of its seasonings businesses.

Revenues were down 1.9 percent to euro10.2 billion.

During the global recession the company was forced to cut prices and sacrifice margin to keep customers. However, Unilever said sales volumes grew and margins improved in the third quarter from the second quarter.

On a conference call, new Chief Executive Paul Polman said that in the long term the company would seek to increase sales volumes by keeping prices low for consumers and to maintain margins by introducing new products.

That, however, requires investment, which means sales and margins could suffer in the short run.