PZ Cussons, famous for its Imperial Leather soap, has delivered interim profits slightly ahead of forecasts and thinks the full-year will meet expectations despite soaring raw material costs.Profit before tax and exceptional items for the six months ended 30 November rose 3.4% to £46.2m - Panmure Gordon was looking for £45.7m - on revenue up 1.3% to £374.8m. Profit after one-off items was down 0.4% to £44.5m.The performance in Nigeria was "broadly flat", as expected, with sales up a touch to £142.3m and operating profit before exceptional items dipping a little to £13.7m.In Asia, Australia and Indonesia beat last year's numbers, driving sales up 8% to £86.1m and profit by 44% to £8.6m, though business suffered in Europe as the high levels of promotional activity on shower gels and handwash products hit the UK. Europe's sales fell 2% to £146.4m and profit was down 5% to £23.7m. The company also blamed the Greek economic crisis for the weak numbers. "The group has delivered a robust performance in the first half despite challenging trading conditions in a number of markets," chairman Richard Harvey said." Continued renovation of our brand portfolio has played an important role in ensuring we can continue to trade competitively in the markets in which we operate." "Whilst we remain cautious given continued challenging trading conditions and rising raw material prices, our outlook for the full year is broadly in line with expectations."There's a 2.123p a share dividend, up 10% on last year.