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REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Unilever (ULVR.L) top-10 investor Lindsell Train welcomed its recent management changes and said it had already discussed the consumer goods company's next steps with the incoming chairman. These moves demonstrated that Unilever thinks that a "fresh perspective on all aspects of the business is necessary", Nick Train, manager of the Finsbury Growth & Income Trust and co-founder of Lindsell Train, told Reuters. A bungled attempt to buy GSK's consumer healthcare business was followed by billionaire activist investor Nelson Peltz joining the board. "We maintain a productive open dialogue with the company and most recently met with the new (Unilever) chairman to hear his view on the most beneficial next steps," Train said. Matt Close, president of its ice cream business, will also leave after a more than three-decade career with Unilever.

Persons: Andrew Kelly, Nick Train, Hein Schumacher, Schumacher, Alan Jope, Nelson Peltz, Ian Meakins, Nils Anderson, Hanneke Faber, Priya Nair, Matt Close, Richa Naidu, Matt Scuffham, Alexander Smith Organizations: Unilever, REUTERS, Lindsell, Income Trust, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Manhattan , New York City, U.S, Finsbury

☆ The CEO of Unilever won't get a pay increase for 2 years after a backlash from shareholders
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-31 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Unilever CEO Hein Schumacher will have his pay frozen until 2026.will have his pay frozen until 2026. AdvertisementAdvertisementThe CEO of Unilever won't be able to get a pay rise until 2026 amid shareholder frustration, Bloomberg reported. The board's proposed pay package was rejected by shareholders at Unilever's annual general meeting in May, per Bloomberg. That's a nearly 20% increase on the fixed pay of the previous CEO, Alan Jope, from whom Schumacher took over in July. It means Schumacher won't be eligible for a pay increase in 2024 or 2025, and his fixed pay level will be reviewed by a compensation committee in 2026.

Persons: Hein Schumacher, Schumacher, —, That's, Alan Jope, Jope, Nelson Peltz, Terry Smith Organizations: Unilever, Service, Bloomberg, Reuters, Telegraph

☆ Unilever to freeze new CEO's fixed pay for two years
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The company logo for Unilever is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., February 17, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsSummaryCompanies Shareholders rejected resolution to adopt directors' pay in MayCEO's fixed pay level to be reviewed in 2026Oct 30 (Reuters) - Consumer goods company Unilever (ULVR.L) said on Monday its board had decided to freeze CEO Hein Schumacher's fixed pay for the next two years, after his initial pay package was rejected by shareholders in May. The pay deal for Unilever’s directors, including Schumacher, was rejected at its annual general meeting with a near 60% majority. Schumacher, who took up the role in July, will not be eligible for a fixed pay increase in 2024 and 2025. The compensation committee will review his fixed pay level in 2026.

Persons: Brendan McDermid, Hein Schumacher's, Schumacher, Nelson Peltz, Alan Jope’s, Anchal Rana, Devika Syamnath, Arun Koyyur Organizations: Unilever, New York Stock Exchange, REUTERS, Consumer, Thomson Locations: New York, U.S, Bengaluru

☆ New-look Unilever retains its old-style opacity
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Unilever logo is displayed on Dove soap boxes in this illustration taken on January 17, 2022. Back in 2017 Unilever fought off a Kraft Heinz (KHC.O) takeover approach by pledging a 20% operating margin; now there just isn’t a target. But it leaves a question mark over Unilever’s long-term direction. And it might leave long-term critics like fund manager Terry Smith still griping about opacity. In January Smith complained that Unilever had revealed the price tag on only three of 27 acquisitions in its Beauty and Wellbeing division over eight years.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Hein Schumacher’s, Kraft Heinz, Alan Jope, Terry Smith, Smith, Schumacher, George Hay, Peter Thal Larsen, Oliver Taslic Organizations: Unilever, REUTERS, Reuters, Kraft, X, Thomson

☆ Unilever is selling Dollar Shave Club, the quirky direct-to-consumer pioneer that never really fit in with the massive company
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Unilever is selling Dollar Shave Club seven years after paying $1 billion for the brand. Unilever struggled to grow Dollar Shave Club, sources previously told. "Dollar Shave Club did not deliver as expected, and the economics of the DTC model changed," then-CEO Jope said during an earnings call in 2022. "Dollar Shave Club will also serve as a platform for additional brands with a similar DNA." Do you have a story idea about Dollar Shave Club or Unilever to share?

Persons: —, Fabian Garcia, Michael Dubin, Mark Levine, Schick, Dubin, Graeme Pitkethly, You've, Alan Jope, hadn't, Jope, Michael Cohen Organizations: Unilever, Nexus Capital Management, NEW, Service, Care, Gillette, Schmidt's Naturals, Procter & Gamble, Club Locations: cologne

☆ Unilever's new CEO lays out plans to simplify business, shares fall
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Klondike, a brand of Unilever, is seen on display in a store in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., March 24, 2022. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Unilever's (ULVR.L) new chief executive Hein Schumacher on Thursday laid out long-awaited plans to simplify the business after admitting it had underperformed in recent years, but shares fell as some investors were unimpressed. Unilever reported a 5.2% rise in underlying sales, meeting analysts' average forecast, a company-provided consensus showed. Underlying price growth for the third quarter was 5.8% while underlying volumes were down 0.6%. The company also announced a senior executive shake-up, naming Fernando Fernandez, currently president of the beauty and wellbeing business, as its new chief financial officer.

Persons: Andrew Kelly, Hein Schumacher, Schumacher, Richard Saldanha, Alan Jope, Nelson Peltz, we've, Graeme Pitkethly, Fernando Fernandez, Richa Naidu, Mark Potter, Jason Neely Organizations: Unilever, REUTERS, Aviva, Thomson Locations: Manhattan , New York City, U.S, Europe

☆ Unilever is selling Dollar Shave Club after 7 long, awkward years of trying to make it work
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Reuters GraphicsReuters spoke to four shareholders that have launched activist campaigns who said that some big consumer goods companies are ripe for executive changes after failing to impress. Reuters GraphicsMany large consumer goods companies generally hold low levels of debt and are cash generative, said André Medeiros, managing director and Alvarez & Marsal's EMEA consumer and retail leader. 'ADVOCATING FOR MANAGEMENT CHANGE'Gianluca Ferrari, founding partner of investor Clearway Capital, said his firm had some consumer companies on its radar but declined to name them. He did not identify specific executives nor disclose the nature of his work with consumer companies. In October, Reuters reported that Peltz had approached former CEOs of consumer goods companies as candidates for the Unilever top job.

Persons: Danone's, Emmanuel Faber, David Samra, Samra, Alvarez, Marsal, André Medeiros, Nelson Peltz, Artisan's Samra, We're, Peltz, Heinz, Gianluca Ferrari, Ferrari, Clearway, Glanbia, Faber, Bluebell, Nicolas Ceron, Ceron, underperformance, Kraft Heinz, KHC.O, Andrew Hayes, Russell Reynolds, John Long, Korn, Long, Alan Jope departure's, Unilever's, Graeme Pitkethly, Hein Schumacher, Heinz's, Bill Johnson, Nelson, Richa Naidu, Matt Scuffham, Daniel Flynn Organizations: Artisan Partners, Reuters, Danone, Evian, Unilever, Consumer Products, Reuters Graphics Reuters, Reuters Graphics, Marsal's EMEA, Billionaire, Artisan, Cadbury Schweppes, Heinz, Trian, Bluebell Capital, shareholders, Bluebell, Diageo, Russell Reynolds Associates, Thomson Locations: York, H.J, Frankfurt, Western Europe, North America

☆ Unilever quarterly sales beat estimates, boost shares
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoSummaryCompanies Underlying sales, price, volume growth beat forecastsPast peak cost inflation -finance chiefFocus is on volume growth -finance chiefShares jump 5%LONDON, July 25 (Reuters) - Unilever (ULVR.L) on Tuesday beat underlying sales growth forecasts after again raising prices to offset higher costs, boosting shares in the maker of Dove soap and Ben & Jerry's ice cream. The British company reported a 7.9% rise in underlying second-quarter sales, beating analysts' average forecast of 6.4%, a company-provided consensus showed. The company said it expects underlying sales growth for the full year to be above 5%, ahead of its multi-year range, with underlying price growth continuing to moderate through the year. Unilever said the percentage of its "business winning market share" had reduced to 41%. The metric assesses what percentage of the company's revenue is coming from areas in which it is gaining market share on a rolling 12-month basis.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Hein Schumacher, Alan Jope, Jochen Kurz, Alan, Kurz, Graeme Pitkethly, Janus Henderson, Bernstein, Bruno Monteyne, Hein Schumacher’s, Richa Naidu, Jason Neely Organizations: REUTERS, Unilever, British, Kurz, Rivals, Nestle, Thomson Locations: Russia, Ukraine

Moscow's actions highlight the vulnerability of other consumer products companies that still have operations in Russia, some of which have announced plans to leave. "The second option is to sell the business, but the reality is, we have not found a viable solution that meets our stated objectives." The company, which owns the Knorr soup and Dove soap brands, employs over 3,000 people in Russia. In March 2022 Unilever became the first major European food company to stop imports into and exports out of Russia after the country's invasion of Ukraine. Former CEO Alan Jope said at the time "volumes in our Russian business are down significantly, by double digits".

Persons: Hein Schumacher, Schumacher, Knorr, Alan Jope, Richa Naidu, Jason Neely Organizations: Unilever, Danone, Carlsberg, Thomson Locations: Russia, Russian, Ukraine

☆ Illumina CEO deSouza resigns after proxy battle with Icahn
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The Grail deal "has kept a lot of investors out of the stock" TD Cowen analyst Dan Brennan said. The company's shares have lost about 60% of their value since completing the Grail deal in 2021. Illumina shares closed at $200.53 on the Nasdaq on Friday. Icahn has said he wants former Illumina CEO Jay Flatley to return. He had secured more than twice the number of shareholder votes than his challenger received in the proxy vote, which could have given him enough legitimacy to hang on.

Persons: Francis deSouza, Carl Icahn, Icahn, Illumina, Charles Dadswell, DeSouza, deSouza's, Cowen, Dan Brennan, Francis, John Thompson, Andrew Teno, Jay Flatley, Vicki Hollub, Alan Jope, Management's Nelson Peltz, Lavanya, Caroline Humer, Michael Erman, Anirban Sen, Mark Porter, Marguerita Choy, Edwina Gibbs Organizations: Nasdaq, LinkedIn, Unilever Plc, U.S . Federal Trade Commission, Thomson Locations: Illumina, Occidental, Bengaluru, New York, New Jersey

☆ Illumina CEO deSouza resigns after battle with Icahn
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Analysts said they expect the company's shares to trade up on Monday morning after deSouza's resignation. The Grail deal "has kept a lot of investors out of the stock" TD Cowen analyst Dan Brennan said. The company's shares have lost about 60% of their value since completing the Grail deal in 2021. Illumina shares closed at $200.53 on the Nasdaq on Friday. Icahn has said he wants former Illumina CEO Jay Flatley to return.

Persons: Francis deSouza, Carl Icahn, Illumina, Charles Dadswell, DeSouza, Icahn, deSouza's, Cowen, Dan Brennan, Francis, John Thompson, Andrew Teno, Jay Flatley, Vicki Hollub, Alan Jope, Management's Nelson Peltz, Lavanya, Caroline Humer, Michael Erman, Anirban Sen, Jason Neely, Jan Harvey, Mark Porter, Marguerita Choy Organizations: Nasdaq, LinkedIn, Unilever Plc, U.S . Federal Trade Commission, Thomson Locations: Occidental, Bengaluru, New York, New Jersey

☆ Illumina CEO Francis DeSouza resigns after battle with Icahn
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

June 11 (Reuters) - Illumina (ILMN.O) Chief Executive Officer Francis DeSouza stepped down on Sunday, the gene-sequencing machine maker said in a statement, ending a battle with activist investor Carl Icahn in which the company's chairman left the company earlier this year. Illumina said it named Senior Vice President and General Counsel Charles Dadswell as interim CEO. Icahn in a tweet said he is happy with the recent changes at Illumina and considers them a "very positive occurrence." Icahn has said he wants former Illumina CEO Jay Flatley to return. Vicki Hollub, for instance, remains Occidental Petroleum's (OXY.N) CEO after the company cut a deal with Icahn over board seats in 2020 and after Icahn cashed out two years later.

Persons: Francis DeSouza, Carl Icahn, Illumina, Charles Dadswell, DeSouza, Icahn, John Thompson, Andrew Teno, Jay Flatley, Vicki Hollub, Alan Jope, Management's Nelson Peltz, Lavanya, Caroline Humer, Anirban Sen, Jason Neely, Jan Harvey, Mark Porter Organizations: LinkedIn, Unilever, U.S . Federal Trade Commission, Thomson Locations: Occidental, Bengaluru, New York

May 30 (Reuters) - Unilever Plc (ULVR.L) said on Tuesday Chief Financial Officer Graeme Pitkethly would leave the consumer goods giant by the end of May 2024 after more than two decades. Pitkethly, who has been with the maker of Dove soap since 2002, succeeded Jean-Marc Huët as finance chief in 2015. The 56-year-old previously served as executive vice president of Unilever's UK and Ireland business, including head of M&A and head of treasury. Unilever, which did not say why Pitkethly planned to "retire from the company", said it would proceed with a formal internal and external search for his successor. "Eight years as CFO of a multinational is a decent time and retiring in May 2024 should enable a useful handover to a new CFO."

☆ Unilever CEO: Past peak inflation but not yet at peak prices
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailUnilever CEO: Past peak inflation but not yet at peak pricesUnilever CEO Alan Jope discusses first-quarter earnings and explains how macroeconomic conditions are impacting the business.

☆ Unilever Tries Reformulating Its Ice Cream to Survive Warmer Freezers
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Katie Deighton | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Keeping ice cream at 10 degrees as opposed to zero will reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by roughly 20% to 30% per freezer, it said. Unilever’s out-of-home ice cream sales declined slightly during the fourth quarter of 2022 because, the company said, some stores unplugged their freezers sooner in the year than usual. Higher temperatures can lead to softer ice creams that stick to wrappers and slide off ice cream sticks, for example, said Andrew Sztehlo, chief research and development officer for Unilever’s ice cream division. The warming program isn’t designed to sweat competitors out of Unilever freezers, which some shopkeepers fill with an assortment of brands that don’t carry the Unilever logo, Mr. Sztehlo said. Representatives from ice cream makers Nestlé SA, Mars Inc., General Mills Inc. and Froneri International Ltd. declined to comment.

☆ CPGs like Coca-Cola, P&G, and Clorox break down their marketing investments as consumers reckon with price hikes
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Ryan Joe | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Many CPGs like Coca-Cola, P&G, and Clorox don't intend to increase their current level of marketing. As the economic squeeze continues, CPG brands like Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, and Clorox are being ultra-cautious about their marketing spend. Major CPGs spent hundreds of millions, and at times billions, on ads in 2022. Clorox spent $280 million, Coca-Cola spent $646 million, and Unilever spent $746 million according to data from Vivvix, an ad intel platform owned by Kantar, and social data from Pathmatics. Clorox, Coca-Cola, and Unilever didn't respond to a request for comment.

☆ Nestlé says food prices will rise further this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Food, including ice cream, will see significant price increases in 2023, CEO Alan Jope said on the same call. Unilever said price increases caused sales volumes to decline by 2.1% in 2022. Heineken, meanwhile, said it expected to sell less beer in Europe this year because of “steep” price increases related to energy costs. At the time, Tesco (TSCDF) described the company’s price increases as “unjustifiable.” Once the products were restored, prices were unchanged on Heinz’s most popular lines. Gabby Jones/Bloomberg/Getty ImagesTesco has also “fallen out with other suppliers” over price increases, its chairman John Allen recently told the BBC.

☆ CPGs like Coca-Cola and P&G don't want to spend more on marketing, but might have to if consumers get fed up with all the price increases
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Ryan Joe | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

☆ Unilever’s New Chief Faces Tough Balancing Act
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Aaron Back | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Unilever posted lukewarm results on Thursday that underscore the challenges awaiting its incoming chief executive. The maker of Dove Soap and Hellmann’s Mayonnaise said it saw underlying sales growth of 9.2% from a year earlier in the fourth quarter thanks to sharply higher prices. Pricing was up 13.3%, while volumes declined 3.6%. Outgoing Chief Executive Alan Jope said on a conference call with analysts that the company will need to raise prices even more to offset continuing cost inflation this year.

☆ Unilever fourth-quarter sales boosted by higher prices
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Unilever Plc (ULVR.L) on Thursday reported quarterly underlying sales growth above expectations, helped by higher prices for its detergents, soaps and packaged food. The packaged goods industry has raised prices sharply over the past year to cope with surging costs of everything from cocoa and sunflower oil to wheat. "In the first half, underlying price growth will remain high, and volume growth will be negative," Unilever said in a statement. "Volume will improve as price growth softens, but it is too early to say whether volume will turn positive in the second half." Underlying sales at Unilever rose 9.2% in the fourth quarter, beating company-provided analyst estimate of a 8.2% increase.

☆ Unilever says prices hikes will continue into this year, easing in H2
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Bottles of Dove body wash, produced by Unilever Plc, at an Iceland Foods Ltd. supermarket in Christchurch, UK, on Wednesday, June 15, 2022. Unilever Plc said on Thursday it would continue to raise prices for its detergents, soaps and packaged food to offset rising input costs, and ease up those hikes in the second half of 2023. The packaged goods industry has hiked up prices over the past year to cope with surging costs of everything from cocoa and sunflower oil to wheat. The industry had already been battling Covid-era supply chain issues and raw material expenses when Russia invaded Ukraine, further boosting prices of energy and other commodities. Underlying sales at Unilever rose 9.2% in the fourth quarter, beating a company-provided analyst estimate of an 8.2% increase.

☆ Unilever's new CEO will inherit a company in flux
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( Alex Bitter | Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Two of the five divisions remain focused on food products, an area that CEO Jope said Unilever considered spinning off. Food brands like Ben & Jerry's and Hellmann's would have become a separate company. Unilever's decision last year to spin off its tea business into a new company, Ekaterra, left many workers inside Unilever's food division nervous, the former employee said. One former Unilever executive pointed to Fernando Fernandez, who will assume the top job at the company's new beauty and wellbeing division. Fernandez has been Unilever's executive vice president for Latin America since 2019 and held other jobs with the company in the region before that.

LONDON, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Incoming Unilever CEO Hein Schumacher gets seasick, according to his former boss at food group Heinz, but that never stopped him joining executive sailing trips and sticking them out. Heinz Company from 2006 to 2013 and was impressed by his leadership skills and business acumen," Peltz said. "Why hire a food exec if you are planning to sell the food business?" "Selling the food business will always be on the cards, but I doubt that it is top priority in the short term." "He's been given a very tough assignment but I have every confidence that if anyone could get Unilever moving in right direction, it's Hein," Johnson said.

☆ Unilever Taps Dairy Boss as New CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Peter Stiff | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Unilever is looking to boost growth across its sprawling portfolio, while grappling with rising input costs and changing consumer trends. Unilever PLC has appointed Hein Schumacher as its new chief executive, tapping the head of a European dairy cooperative to lead its effort to reinvigorate growth and navigate economic uncertainty. The owner of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and Dove soap said Monday that Mr. Schumacher would become CEO on July 1. He succeeds incumbent Alan Jope, who the company said in September would retire this year.

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