Sales of Dove soap and Hellman's mayonnaise are rarely the first to suffer during an economic downturn, which may help to explain why Unilever managed to lift sales by more than 7 per cent at the start of this year.

Patrick Cescau, the chief executive, and his new chairman, Michael "Mick The Knife" Treschow, can take some comfort from these figures, although the increase was achieved chiefly by raising prices rather than any more fundamental change in business performance.

Mr Cescau has been immersed in a vigorous programme of cost cuts for several years now and is trying to offload underperforming brands, but he still has some way to go before he can claim to have turned the group around.

Unilever's improved performance still lags competitors like Nestlé and Danone, whose reported sales growth of 9.8 per cent and 11.4 per cent respectively easily beats the group's 7.2 per cent.

The Anglo-Dutch giant has come a long way in terms of streamlining its formerly byzantine management structure but it still has much to do to simplify its complex product range and cut costs.

Mr Cescau also faces a more fundamental problem.

Unilever is a less focused company than many of its competitors because its product range spans both personal care and food products — two very different businesses.

For as long as Unilever continues to try to do both things at once, Mr Cescau will have a hard time matching the results of the leaders in either of those fields.

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