Consumer goods giant Unilever said its ice cream business will be separated by way of demerger, through listing of the business in Amsterdam, London and New York.
'This decision follows a full review by the board of separation options,' the company said.
The owner of the popular Magnum and Wall's brands had announced plans last year to separate the ice cream division to win back investor confidence after years of underperformance.
Unilever reported fourth-quarter underlying sales growth of 4% o, compared with a 4.1% forecast by analysts in a company-compiled poll.
Jean-Francois van Boxmeer has been appointed as chair designate for the separated ice cream business, it said.
'A Year Of Significant Activity'
Hein Schumacher, CEO of Unilever stated that the “results reflect a year of significant activity as we focused on transforming Unilever into a consistently higher performing business.”
Schumacher added, “Under the Growth Action Plan, we committed to doing fewer things, better and with greater impact. We executed the plan at pace and made progress in 2024. [...] Fewer, bigger innovations helped to deliver volume growth consistently above 2% in each quarter.
“All business groups delivered positive volume growth for the year. Growth was underpinned by gross margin expansion of 280bps, fuelling increases in brand investment and profitability.”
Annual Highlights
The company's beauty and wellbeing unit saw underlying sales growth of 6.5%, with volume growth of 5.1%, driven by the performance across its Power Brands.
The personal care division registered 5.2% sales growth with a 3.1% volume increase, led by innovation-led sales growth of deodorants.
Underlying sales in home care unit increased 2.9%, with 4.0% volume growth, which more than offset the price decline linked to commodity cost deflation.
The company's food business reported underlying sales growth of 2.6%, with nearly flat volume growth of 0.2% amid a market slowdown and moderating prices.
The ice cream business grew by 3.7%, with a return to positive volume growth of 1.6%, the company noted.
In developed markets, which accounted for 42% of group turnover, underlying sales grew 4.4%, while volumes increased 3.3%.
The company saw strong performance in North America, led by Beauty & Wellbeing, and a major improvement in Europe, driven by Home Care and Personal Care. Moreover, price growth moderated to 1.1%.
News by Reuters, additional reporting by ESM.
