Unilever Profits Expand

LONDON - May 6/05 - SNS -- Unilever reported an after tax profit of EUR981 million on sales of 9,266 million during the first quarter ending March 31, compared to EUR802 million on sales of 9,061 million the same quarter during the previous fiscal year.

The company said the sales increase came entirely from volume. "This includes the impact of an additional 5 days in the quarter, which varies by region. We estimate that, at the group level, calendar effects contributed about 4% to growth.

"Turnover was 2.3% ahead, with the underlying sales growth partly offset by a negative 2.1% from disposals and a negative 1.6% from currency movements. Operating margin was 15.3%, an increase of 0.8 percentage points. There was a gain in the quarter of EUR73 million from profits on disposals, mainly in Europe and South Africa.

"Gross restructuring costs were also substantially lower than last year. These effects, together with the benefits of savings programmes, more than offset higher input costs and increased investment in market competitiveness."

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