Unilever said on Tuesday that it plans to cut about 1,500 roles across senior and junior management as part of a global restructuring plan aimed at streamlining operations and soothing the concerns of worried investors.
The announcement comes days after reports that activist investor Nelson Peltz's Trian Partners has been building a stake in the world's second biggest personal care products maker, which owns the Dove Soap and Vaseline brands.
The company added that it will move away from its current 'matrix structure' and organise around five distinct business groups – Beauty & Wellbeing, Personal Care, Home Care, Nutrition, and Ice Cream.
Each business group will be fully responsible and accountable for their strategy, growth, and profit delivery globally.
'Category-Focused Business Groups'
Alan Jope, CEO Unilever, commented, "Our new organisational model has been developed over the last year and is designed to continue the step-up we are seeing in the performance of our business.
"Moving to five category-focused business groups will enable us to be more responsive to consumer and channel trends, with crystal-clear accountability for delivery. Growth remains our top priority and these changes will underpin our pursuit of this."
Leadership Team
Unilever also announced changes to its leadership team, including the appointment of Fernando Fernandez, currently the EVP of Latin America, as the president of beauty and wellbeing, which includes hair care, skin care, as well as vitamins, minerals and supplements, and Unilever Prestige.
Elsewhere, Hanneke Faber, the president foods and refreshment, has been named as the president of the nutrition category, which will include scratch cooking, healthy snacking, functional nutrition, plant-based meat, and food solutions.
President of its North America division, Fabian Garcia, will take over as the president of personal care, responsible for skin cleansing, deodorants, and oral care segments.
Peter ter Kulve will continue as the president of home care, responsible for fabric care, home and hygiene, and water and air, the company added.
EVP of its ice cream division, Matt Close, has been appointed as the president of its ice cream division.
The company also added that chief operating officer, Nitin Paranjpe will take over as chief transformation officer and chief people officer, responsible for leading business transformation and heading the HR function
Reginaldo Ecclissato, chief supply chain officer, will lead the supply chain and Unilever business operations as chief business operations officer.
Sunny Jain, president of beauty and personal care, has decided to leave the company to set up an investment fund in technology megatrends, Unilever added.
News by Reuters, additional reporting by ESM. For more A-Brands news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
