The British maker of Finish dishwasher tablets, Nurofen painkillers and Cillit Bang cleaners, said the results positioned it well to meet its 2012 goals, with market growth now expected to be at the top end of a 1 to 2 percent range.

The company is targeting underlying sales growth 200 basis points ahead of the market, i.e a 3 to 4 percent increase, with margins held steady.

It said on Wednesday that like-for-like sales, both including and excluding its pharmaceuticals unit, grew by 5 percent in the quarter.

That was better than analysts were expecting after the group saw a slowdown in Southern Europe earlier in the year.

Analysts at Investec were expecting organic sales growth excluding pharmaceuticals of 3.1 percent, lower than the median analyst consensus of 3.8 percent.