The British consumer goods group Unilever is spinning off its ice cream business. The Langnese, Magnum and Ben & Jerry’s brands are to be spun off into an independent company.
As part of a savings program, Unilever wants to spin off its ice cream business into an independent company. The spin-off of brands such as Langnese, Magnum and Ben & Jerry’s should be completed by the end of 2025. The British consumer goods company, which also offers Ax deodorant and Omo detergent, announced this today. This will make you simpler and more focused.
With the spin-off, Unilever aims to achieve sales growth in the mid-single-digit percentage range and a moderate improvement in profit margins. Unilever also announced that it would cut 7,500 of its approximately 128,000 jobs worldwide. This is intended to reduce costs by a total of around 800 million euros over the next three years.
Company boss Hein Schumacher had already announced a few months ago that Unilever wanted to concentrate on 30 core brands in the future, which would bring in 70 percent of sales. This means that they want to focus on four business areas: Beauty and Wellbeing with brands such as Dove and Vaseline, Personal Care with products from Ax and Rexona, Home Care with brands such as Domestos and Cif and nutrition items. Under Schumacher’s predecessor, the portfolio had grown to around 400 brands.
Positive response from investors
The plans were well received on the stock market: Unilever shares rose significantly in the morning. The share recently gained 5.3 percent to 4,014 pence. The value thus overcame its recent weakness. “Investors wanted to see these measures and management delivered,” commented the experts at brokerage firm Hargreaves Landsdown.
RBC analysts described the spin-off as sensible. The division is characterized by moderate growth and a lack of cost synergies. According to the information, the ice cream division had sales of 7.9 billion euros in 2023 with brands such as Magnum. Group-wide sales last year amounted to 59.6 billion euros.