Consumer goods giant Unilever has announced that it is set to acquire Romanian ice-cream producer Betty Ice, for an undisclosed sum.
Betty Ice is the main local ice-cream producer in the country, with turnover of €30 million. The company owns a factory in Suceava, and operates over 180 ice-cream kiosks during the summer months.
The business will operate as a standalone unit within Unilever's South-Central Europe division, led by its founder Vasile Armenean.
"Betty Ice is a wonderful business, much loved by Romanians," said James Simmons, managing director for Unilever South-Central Europe.
"I am very pleased that Vasile Armenean has decided to join our company. He is an outstanding entrepreneur and he will play an instrumental role in creating a bright future for this new business.”
Ice-Cream Business
Last week, Unilever reported underlying sales growth for 2017, excluding spreads, of 3.5%, with price up 2.4% and volume up 1%.
The group said that its ice-cream business, which includes brands such as Breyer's, Magnum and Ben & Jerry's, had another good year, despite increased competition from new entrants.
CEO Paul Polman said that Unilever's ice-cream brands saw sales increases across the board, and that the company is aiming to accelerate this growth in 2018.
In particular, the group noted that Breyers Delights, its new low-calorie, high-protein variant, performed well after launching in the US last autumn, in competition with popular brand Halo Top.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Sarah Harford. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
