Unilever profit fall hits shares

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Shares in Unilever have fallen 7.3% after the food and consumer goods group reported a decline in profits.

Pre-tax profits at current exchange rates fell 4% to 1.35bn euros ($2.11bn; £1.1bn) between April and June.

Unilever is the company behind brands such as Persil, Knorr, Vaseline, Hellmann's, Dove soap, Domestos, Wall's ice cream and Lipton iced tea.

Sales volumes in the three month period were largely flat, with any sales increases accounted for by price rises.

"We see this as a poor set of results, with Unilever showing signs of returning to previous volume form," said Jeff Stent at brokerage Citi.

"Today's results will come as a negative surprise to much of the market."

As a consequence, Unilever's shares closed down 8% at 1388 pence.

Some of the falling profit has been blamed on the strength of the euro.

Taken at constant exchange rates, Unilever actually achieved a 4% increase in pre-tax profits.