British consumer goods group Unilever announced a fall in first-half net profits on rising costs. Profit after tax fell 5 per cent to $3.68 billion in the first six months of the current year compared with the similar period in 2020, Unilever said in a statement. Revenues decreased at around 26 billion euros for the company making food, cleaning and beauty products including Magnum ice-cream, Cif surface cleaner and Dove soap. Unilever was affected by exchange rate movements.

“We have seen further cost inflation rise through the second quarter,” said CEO Alan Jope. The company, which saw demand for hand cleaners and household cleaning products last year as the coronavirus pandemic spread, said it continued to be impacted by the pandemic. “The operating environment in our markets has seen some developments but remains unstable,” Unilever added in the statement.

The results come after Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned Unilever that its subsidiary Ben & Jerry’s decision to stop selling ice cream in the occupied Palestinian territories would have “severe consequences”. Ben & Jerry’s recently said that selling ice cream in the Israel-occupied Palestinian territories was “inconsistent with our values”. However, it said it planned to keep selling its products in Israel.