Unilever had an increase of net profit in the first half of 2016, accompanied by a decline in turnover, the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods company announced on Thursday.

According to Unilever, figures show the producer of Lipton tea, Knorr foods, Dove soap, Axe deodorant, Omo laundry products, and Magnum and Ben and Jerry's ice creams is "growing consistently and profitably despite a challenging environment."

The operating profit went slightly down by 0.1 percent to 3.8 billion euros (4.2 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half of 2016, while net profit amounted to 2.7 billion euros in the first half of the year, an increase of 2.0 percent compared to the same period in 2015.

Turnover was 26.3 billion euros in the first half of 2016, which is a decline of 2.6 percent at current exchange rates compared to the same period one year ago. Underlying sales growth in the first half of 2016 was 4.7 percent, with volume up 2.2 percent.

According to Unilever, the underlying sales growth was driven by market share gains across the four departments of the company.

In emerging markets, Unilever grew 8.0 percent, driven by volume growth in Asia and price growth in Latin America. Developed markets grew 0.2 percent with volume growth more than offsetting the price deflation in Europe.

"Our first-half results further demonstrate the progress we have made in the transformation of Unilever to deliver consistent, competitive, profitable, and responsible growth," CEO Paul Polman said in a press release.

"Despite a challenging environment with slower global economic growth and intensifying geopolitical instability, we have again grown profitably and ahead of our markets driven by strong innovations," Polman added.