The consumer goods maker was among the top gainers on the FTSE 100 index, up 3.6% on the strength of better-than-expected third-quarter sales, up 5.7%.
The benchmark FTSE 100 was up 69.06 points or 1.1% at 6,338.67.
Miners rose but then fell. Glencore turned a 3% gain into a 2% fall and BHP Billiton a 1.3% rise into a 0.6% fall.
Burberry was 8% lower at the end of play, having been 12% down on  a warning of an "increasingly challenging" Chinese market and a fall in sales there.
On the currency markets, the pound was flat against the dollar at $1.5484 and rose 0.49% against the euro at â‚¬1.3540.
(Close: London's leading shares closed up more than 1% in Thursday trading, partly thanks to strong results from Unilever.