What next for Unilever as King Charles urged to strip conglomerate of its royal warrants? By City & Finance Reporter Updated: 21:55, 21 June 2024 e-mail View comments What's going on? Unilever is a £111billion leviathan, most famous for Marmite and Hellmann's mayonnaise, but also the name behind Cif, Dove, Persil, Sunsilk, Surf and Lynx cologne. This week King Charles has been urged by a Ukrainian campaign group to strip Unilever of its royal warrants because it continues to operate in Russia. Unilever's CEO Hein Schumacher, 52, says that the matter is 'not straightforward' since, if Unilever quits Russia, its assets could be seized by allies of President Putin.
The company is making other big changes, however. Tell us more Supersized conglomerates are somewhat out of fashion and Unilever will spin off its ice cream subsidiary. Ice cream is a low-margin business.
Is it big in ice cream? I should say so. The division which includes Ben and Jerry's, Magnum and Wall's may be valued at as much as £15billion. It is not yet known what the spun-off business will be called – or where it will be listed.
Amsterdam or New York could win this prize because some think the London market has the appeal of a melted vanilla cornet. Is the sell-off part of a bigger plan? The group has developed a Growth Action Plan. One of those backing it is Nelson Peltz, US activist extraordinaire (and Brooklyn Beckham's father-in-law).
His campaign for a make-over at Unilever won him a seat on the board.
