Rising prices and cost-cutting have boosted quarterly profits Unilever, which owns brands such as Persil, Lipton tea and Walls ice cream. Pre-tax profits rose 21% to 1.37bn euros ($1.98bn; �952m) in the three months to the end of September.
It took a charge of 234m euros as part of its restructuring plans, which will cut 20,000 jobs in the next four years.
Unilever, which makes Vaseline, Knorr and Hellmann's, employs 179,000 people worldwide, including 8,000 in the UK.
Unilever shares ended 4.4% higher by close of trade in London.
Global staff numbers have already been cut from 223,000 in 2004.
Unilever says it is confident it can achieve its outlook for the whole of 2007, which means producing sales growth of about 5%.
"We have been increasing prices in a number of categories, but have also responded to a step-up in competitor promotional activity in a number of markets," Unilever said.
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