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Unilever’s ice cream business will take a new blow to the UK capital and post a major listing in Amsterdam rather than London when it was sold later this year.
The Consumer Goods Group said Thursday that the new company also has lists in London and New York, but the main location is in the Netherlands, where the unit is located. Unilever itself is listed in all three markets, with London having a major list.
Last year, Unilever announced it would spin-off the division as part of a wider turnaround plan. The division’s brands include Magnum and Ben & Jerry, generating more than 8 billion euros in annual revenues.
The company has appointed Vodafone Chairman Jean François Van Boxmare as chairman of the ice cream business. The separation must be completed by the end of this year.
“The decision follows a full review of the Separation Committee, focusing on maximizing shareholder returns and setting the ice cream business to success and execution certainty by the end of 2025,” the company said. He said in a statement Thursday.
The Financial Times reported last month that Unilever has leaned towards multiple lists in the ice cream business, with activist investor and Unilever board member Nelson Peltz advocating for the list of the US.
The group is under pressure in the UK and Dutch home markets to maintain the list. The company assured the Dutch government in 2020 that future spinoffs will be listed in the Netherlands.
In a recent research note on Demerger, Barclays analyst Warren Ackerman said that listings in the US could result in higher ratings, which would force UK and European shareholders to sell their shares. He said it could surpass it.
Unilever is in the midst of a widespread restructuring launched by the 18-month CEO Hein Schumacher. The “productivity program” includes employment of 7,500 people and reducing ice cream demargers.
Schumacher said in November that he would be selling smaller, less-performing food brands, worth around £1 billion in revenue, from plant-based food brand vegetarian butchers to pot noodles, marmite and Colman.
The group announced full-year revenues along with list structure details, with sales growth lagging ahead of expectations. It also thwarted growth at the beginning of the year, bringing stocks down 6.6% in early London trading.
“We expect the market growth, which has declined throughout 2024, will remain soft in the first half of 2025,” Schumacher said.
The annual underlying sales up 4.2% yearly through December increased by 4.3% compared to the expected 4.3%. Sales increased 1.9% to 60.8 billion euros. The company has also announced a share buyback of 1.5 billion euros.
Jefferies analyst David Hayes said he hopes Unilever’s stock will suffer performance behind the conservative outlook, adding that all divisions missed targets in the fourth quarter of the year. Ta.
Cedric Besnard, a City analyst, said comments about this late start of the year “straighten enthusiasm.”
Separately, Unilever’s rival Nestle reported higher than expected sales growth despite the spike in cocoa and coffee prices.
Freixe set out to restore faith in the business after a period of performance and operational accidents as a result of the eight-year absence of Mark Schneider’s CEO last summer.
The manufacturers of Nescafé and Kitkat said that the actual internal growth (the company’s power of attorney) rose 0.8% in the 12 months to January, slightly exceeding analyst expectations. .
