Unilever (ULVR.L)(UNc.AS) reported better than expected sales for the first quarter on Thursday, showing improvement from the hammering it took last year from weak emerging markets including a slowdown in China. The Anglo-Dutch maker of Dove soap, Lipton tea and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, said underlying sales rose 2.8 percent in the quarter, excluding the impact of currency moves, acquisitions and disposals. Unilever had forecast in January that sales would rise by between 2 percent and 4 percent in 2015, with the first quarter at the low end of the range and improvements during the year.