Unilever said on Tuesday it would separate its ice cream division, which includes popular brands such as Magnum and Ben & Jerry's, and cut 7,500 jobs as part of a new cost-cutting plan.
Investors supported the plan, and the global consumer goods company's stock price rose nearly 6% at one point.
London-listed Unilever said the spin-off will begin immediately and is expected to be completed by the end of 2025. The ice cream business is “in the process of moving to another headquarters in Amsterdam,” but Chief Executive Officer Hein Schumacher said on a call with reporters that he was “open to options” regarding where to list. He said that.
The plan was welcomed by activist investor and director Nelson Peltz's fund and Unilever shareholder Aviva.
Unilever said it aims to achieve mid-single-digit underlying sales growth and slightly improve margins after the split. The ice cream business accounts for about 16% of Unilever's global sales, and between a third and 40% depending on the country.
The group, whose other brands include Dove soap, Marmite and Hellmann's seasonings, has also launched a program to cut costs by around $869 million over the next three years. The proposed changes will affect approximately 7,500 jobs (mainly office-based) worldwide, and total restructuring costs are expected to be approximately 1.2% of total sales for the period.
The job cuts will affect approximately 5.9% of Unilever's approximately 128,000 employees.
“We are looking at the entire organization: headquarters, corporate centres, business group coordination centers and business units in each country,” Schumacher said, without elaborating on which regions would be hit the hardest. Ta. By downsizing.
The move comes in a major statement from Schumacher, who took over as CEO in July and, after acknowledging Unilever's poor performance in recent years, laid out a plan in October to regain investor confidence by streamlining the business. be. His predecessor, Alan Jope, was criticized for expanding the group's brand portfolio to around 400 and leaving management distracted from delivering top performance.
