Persil-to-Oxo consumer products giant Unilever unveiled a six per cent rise in sales on the back of its large scale restructuring programme this year.

In February the company embarked on a transformation of its business to slash its portfolio of products by 1,200 brands, leaving a core of 400 key brands.

Against this rationalisation of products, Unilever has gone on a major acquisition spree in the US, where it has snapped up several big brands in a series of multi-billion pound deals. The company said its recent acquisitions had contributed to around 2.8 per cent of the sales growth. Within the last six months Unilever has gobbled up Ben & Jerry's ice cream, SlimFast and more recently Bestfoods, whose brands include Hellmann's mayonnaise and Knorr soups.

The company, which has its headquarters at Port Sunlight, Cheshire, has also recently announced the sale of its European Bakery business.

Chairman Niall FitzGerald said: "We are focusing on our leading brands, addressing the underperforming businesses as demonstrated through the forthcoming sale of our European Bakery business and our restructuring programme is on target."

He added: "With regard to the outlook for the remainder of the year we expect the pattern of increasing market investment and underlying revenue growth to continue."

However, the restructuring at Unilever also led to a fall in pre-tax profits in the first half of the year. Profits before tax for the six months to June 30 were £1.24 billion against £1.36 billion in the same period last year.

Turnover was £13.58 billion against £13.35 billion.

The company will announce its interim dividend at the same time as it unveils its third quarter results in November.