Ice cream sales have disappointed

Turnover fell by 3% to 10.8bn euros (�7.1bn; $13bn) during the quarter, with sales of its leading brands flat.

In particular, Unilever said it had seen poor sales of ice cream and ready-to-drink tea in Europe.

Despite sluggish sales, cost-cutting measures led to a 19% rise in pre-tax profits to 1.17bn euros.

Unilever also said it still expected to meet its earnings growth target for the year.

Price competition

Unilever - whose brands include Dove, Lux and Marmite - announced earlier this year that it was to take action to revive sluggish sales of its top brands.

UNILEVER LEADING BRANDS FOOD - Knorr, Lipton, Ragu, Hellman's, Bertolli, Findus, Bird's Eye, Marmite, Flora, Slim-Fast ICE CREAMS - Magnum, Cornetto, Solero HOME CARE - Cif, Surf, Domestos, Comfort PERSONAL CARE - Dove, Lux, Sunsilk, Pond's, Signal

But the company said it was still suffering from weak demand in its main markets.

"Consumer confidence remains weak and a number of our key markets are still growing at below their historical rates with a further slowdown this quarter," said chairman Niall Fitzgerald.

"In Europe, home care markets have declined throughout this year and we now see the same in personal care with price competition driving developments in both cases.

"Furthermore there is still no sustained upturn in US consumer spending in our categories, and here too home and personal care markets have declined."

Sales of its Slimfast diet range have been hit by the popularity of the Atkins diet, and Unilever has now introduced a number of low-carbohydrate products.