MADRID, 19 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -
European consumer products giant Unilever has confirmed its intention to accelerate its growth plan by separating the ice cream business and launching a productivity program, which will affect 7,500 of the company's employees.
"The board believes that Unilever should increasingly focus on a portfolio of unquestionably superior brands with strong positions in highly attractive categories that have complementary operating models," the multinational defended.
In this sense, he explained that the ice cream business (Ice Cream), owner of brands such as Magnum and Ben
The company has not yet determined the formula for this separation, although it has indicated that the spin-off of Ice Cream "is the most likely route", although other options will be considered to maximize profitability for shareholders. Separation work will begin immediately and is expected to be completed by the end of 2025.
The separation of Ice Cream will create a world-leading business, operating in a very attractive category, with brands that together generated a turnover of €7.9 billion in 2023. As an independent business, it will have operational and financial flexibility to grow its activity. , allocate capital and resources in support of the company's distinctive strategy.
Unilever has assured that it will continue to optimize its portfolio within these four business groups towards spaces of greater growth and through brands with global reach or significant.
On the other hand, in addition to the changes in the portfolio, Unilever intends to launch a comprehensive productivity program, driving focus and faster growth through a more efficient and responsible organization, made possible by investment in technology.
The program is expected to generate total cost savings of around €800 million over the next three years, which will more than offset the estimated operational "dysynergies" resulting from the separation of Ice Cream.
The proposed changes are expected to affect around 7,500 predominantly white-collar positions worldwide, with an estimated restructuring cost of around 1.2% of group turnover over the next three years.
The separation of Ice Cream in combination with the announced productivity program will ensure that Unilever's financial and management resources are focused on its strongest, global or scalable brands, the company has defended, which expects to have a structurally greater margin after its implementation.
As such, post-separation, Unilever aims to achieve mid-single-digit underlying sales growth and modest margin improvement.
"The board is determined to transform Unilever into a higher growth, higher margin business that will deliver consistent results for all stakeholders," said Ian Meakins, chairman of Unilever.
