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☆ Unilever names Hein Schumacher as new CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

A customer selects bar of Dove soap, a Unilever product, at a Sainsbury's supermarket in London, U.K.Consumer goods giant Unilever on Monday appointed Hein Schumacher as its new chief executive officer replacing Alan Jope from July 1. Schumacher, 51, joined Unilever in October last year as non-executive director and is currently the chief of Dutch dairy business FrieslandCampina. The London-based company had in September said that CEO Jope planned to retire at the end of 2023.

☆ Unilever names Dutch dairy boss Schumacher as new CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Schumacher, 51, joined Unilever in October last year as non-executive director and is currently the chief of Dutch dairy business FrieslandCampina. The London-based company in September said that CEO Jope planned to retire at the end of 2023. Peltz, through his Trian Fund, holds a nearly 1.5% stake in Unilever, making him the fourth largest shareholder, according to Refinitiv Eikon data. Analysts at Jefferies and RBC Capital welcomed Unilever's appointment of an external CEO, saying investors will support the move. "We think Unilever needs a cultural and organisational shake up," RBC analyst James Edwardes Jones wrote in a note.

☆ Unilever’s new boss whets appetite for split
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Jan 30 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Unilever’s new chief executive is arguably a bit low fat. The appointment of board member Hein Schumacher, CEO of Dutch dairy cooperative FrieslandCampina, will instead have investors wondering whether Unilever needs to split its food and non-food arms. Unilever’s current share price is barely 40 euros per share. (By Aimee Donnellan)Follow @Breakingviews on Twitter(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ Global shareholder activism sees record number of European campaigns
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Amy-Jo Crowley | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Benoit TessierLONDON, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Activist shareholders stepped up pressure on corporate boardrooms last year by starting 235 campaigns to shake up companies, including a record number in Europe. Activists buy up stakes in companies to lobby for change that they hope will improve a target’s share price. Large-cap companies with a value $25 billion or more accounted for the biggest share of overall campaigns, while technology and industrial companies accounted for roughly four in ten campaigns. Lazard's report said that while the number of activist campaigns rose sharply last year, activist investors’ returns were hit by tumbling public market performance especially in the United States. Mergers and acquisitions-related campaigns, including "sell the company" demands, also made a come-back and represented 41% of all campaigns, despite global dealmaking suffering a fall last year.

☆ Unilever CEO: Inflation is at its peak, but further price rises are still to come
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | 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: Inflation is at its peak, but further price rises are still to comeAlan Jope, CEO of consumer goods giant Unilever, discusses the impact of increased costs on demand, and his outlook for inflationary pressures in 2023.

☆ Prices have not peaked yet, says CEO of one of the world's largest consumer goods firms
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Anmar Frangoul | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The CEO of consumer goods giant Unilever said Tuesday that prices would likely continue to rise in the near term, adding that his firm had a playbook for high inflation thanks to its business dealings in markets like Argentina and Turkey. Speaking to CNBC's Joumanna Bercetche at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Alan Jope talked about how his firm was managing its operations in the current climate. "For the last 18 months we've seen extraordinary input cost pressure … it runs across petrochemical derived products, agricultural derived products, energy, transport, logistics," he said. "So far, the consumer response in terms of volume softness has been very muted, the consumer has been very resilient," Jope said. "We do see the prospect of higher volume elasticity as winter energy costs hit, as households' savings levels come down and that buffer goes away and as prices continue to rise," he said.

☆ Breakingviews: Unilever ice cream saga may sour ESG deals
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Dec 16 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Unilever’s (ULVR.L) drawn-out ice cream drama offers food for thought on buying companies with strong political leanings. The consumer goods group said on Thursday that its litigation with the independent board of Ben & Jerry’s over the sale of its Israeli ice cream business has “been resolved”. The ice cream mess made for an odd corporate drama. Unilever bought the hipster brand in 2000 for $326 million, leaving Ben & Jerry’s board more independence than a typical subsidiary. The company also asked a judge to stop Zinger from selling the ice cream in the West Bank.

☆ We have a very clear strategy on where we are going to invest, says Unilever CEO
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | 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 EmailWe have a very clear strategy on where we are going to invest, says Unilever CEOAlan Jope, Unilever CEO, joins 'Squawk on the Street' to discuss where Unilever is in the company's transformation process, whether it plans to sell some of its businesses and more.

☆ Unilever mulls $3 bln sale of some U.S. ice cream brands - Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 8 (Reuters) - British consumer goods giant Unilever (ULVR.L) is considering the sale of a portfolio of U.S. ice cream brands such as Klondike and Breyers, that could be valued at as much as $3 billion, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday. International labels Magnum and Ben & Jerry's are not part of the review, the Bloomberg News report said, citing people familiar with the matter. Deliberations are ongoing and the company may still decide not to sell the brands, the report added. In June, Unilever sold its Ben & Jerry's ice cream business in Israel to its local licensee for an undisclosed sum, aiming to smooth over a diplomatic dispute. Ben & Jerry's and Unilever have been in a bitter legal dispute over the sale ever since.

Nestle and P&G both raised prices by less than 9.5% in the same period, having roughly matched one another since mid-2021. Unilever said price rises vary by category and market and not all consumers were experiencing the 12.5% hikes. Unilever has high exposure to regions and countries with high inflation including Latin America, Turkey and Russia, while P&G is more U.S.-focused, Bernstein analyst Bruno Monteyne said. "These countries have high inflation, linked to weak foreign exchange. "We are still absorbing significant cost, which has led to a notable decline in our gross profit margin," a Nestle spokesperson said.

☆ We're seeing weakening consumer sentiment in Europe and China: Unilever CEO
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | 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 EmailWe're seeing weakening consumer sentiment in Europe and China: Unilever CEOAlan Jope discusses the company's latest earnings and says global economic conditions aren't improving.

☆ Unilever raises guidance but is downbeat on Europe, China consumer sentiment
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Unilever on Thursday gave a dire assessment of consumer sentiment in Europe and China, two of its key markets, but raised its full year sales forecast as it lifted prices to counter soaring costs. Shoppers around the world paid 12.5% more for Unilever products in the quarter - a record price hike for the company - with sales volumes declining 1.6%. "Consumer sentiment in Europe is at an all time low," Chief Financial Officer Graeme Pitkethly told reporters, warning of fears of a "confluence of events" in Europe with energy prices and inflation rising and consumers' savings waning. "Both the premium segments of the market and the value segments of the market are actually growing quite quickly, at an equivalent rate," Pitkethly told journalists. In China, Unilever's third biggest market that has been doubling down on Covid-19 lockdowns, sales grew by 1%.

Along with other consumer goods companies, Unilever has faced a surge in labor, freight and ingredients costs. Billionaire Peltz in recent weeks met two possible contenders to replace Jope, one of the sources said. FLORIDA TALKSEven before Jope announced his departure, Peltz met with a former consumer goods CEO in Florida, one of the sources said. In the last month, Peltz and his team also approached another former consumer packaged goods CEO about the Unilever job, the source said. Peltz supports Unilever's sustainability strategy, including a plan to decarbonize the company's business units, Unilever has said.

☆ Inflation has yet to peak, CFOs say, and recession is already here or soon to hit
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Ian Thomas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The CNBC CFO Council survey is a sample of the current outlook among top financial officers. More than a quarter of the CFOs say inflation is the biggest external risk factor facing their businesses. With persistent inflation, CFOs have shifted their view regarding the timing of a recession as a result of the Fed's rate hikes. Nineteen percent of CFOs now say they expect a recession in the fourth quarter of this year, up from 13% in Q2. The CNBC survey finds companies still in hiring mode, with 57% of CFOs saying they expect to add to headcount in the next year.

☆ Unilever is losing its CEO Alan Jope as the company finds itself at an inflection point. Insiders have questioned the massive reorganization and the entrenched 'too nice' culture he presided over.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Alex Bitter | Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Editor's note: On Sunday, Unilever said that CEO Alan Jope will retire at the end of 2023. It looks at some of the challenges that Jope and Unilever faced in streamlining its structure through the reorganization, including a culture that is 'too nice' at times. Two of the five divisions remain focused on food products, an area that CEO Jope said Unilever considered spinning off. 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.

☆ Unilever CEO to Retire Next Year After Rocky Tenure
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Peter Stiff | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

LONDON— Unilever PLC said Chief Executive Officer Alan Jope plans to retire at the end of next year, signaling an end to what has been a challenging tenure at the helm of the maker of Dove soap and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. The London-based consumer-goods giant said Monday that it would conduct a formal search for a successor and consider both internal and external candidates.

Unilever logo is displayed on Dove soap boxes in this illustration taken on January 17, 2022. Unilever's search begins at a time of soaring food and energy prices which are hitting household budgets and hurting consumer confidence. The move was met with disapproval from shareholders, some of whom also criticised Unilever for prioritising sustainability over core growth. "This may signal more welcome future change at Unilever," Tineke Frikee, fund manager at Unilever investor Waverton Asset Management, said. A Unilever spokesperson said the company is "fully committed to the organisational changes" and that Jope is "completely committed to delivering against that strategy."

☆ Unilever CEO Alan Jope to retire at end of 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterUnilever logo is displayed on Dove soap boxes in this illustration taken on January 17, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationSept 26 (Reuters) - Unilever (ULVR.L) CEO Alan Jope plans to retire at the end of 2023, the maker of Dove soap and Knorr stock cubes said on Monday, roughly two months after activist investor Nelson Peltz joined the board. The British consumer goods maker said its board would start a formal search for his successor, considering both internal and external candidates. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterThe move was met with disapproval from shareholders, some of whom also criticised Unilever for prioritising sustainability over core growth. ($1 = 0.9410 pounds)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru and Richa Naidu in London; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Sherry Jacob-PhillipsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ FTSE 100 gains as weak pound lifts export-heavy consumer staples
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterThe London Stock Exchange Group offices are seen in the City of London, Britain, December 29, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville/SummarySummary Companies FTSE 100 up 0.5%, FTSE 250 off 0.7%Sept 26 (Reuters) - London's FTSE 100 index rose on Monday, led by shares of dollar-earning consumer staple companies after sterling tumbled to record low on worries the new government's economic plan will stretch Britain's finances to the limit. The export-oriented FTSE 100 (.FTSE) gained 0.5%, while the more domestically oriented FTSE 250 (.FTMC) declined 0.7%. Consumer staples like Unilever (ULVR.L) and British American Tobacco (BATS.L) added 3.5% and 1.1%, respectively. read moreRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'SouzaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Jars of Nescafe Gold coffee by Nestle are pictured in the supermarket of Nestle headquarters in Vevey, Switzerland, February 13, 2020. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has propelled energy and grain prices to all-time highs, driving up the cost of packaged goods. That has been felt particularly acutely in parts of Asia and North Africa, where people spend a higher proportion of income on food and fuel than in the United States and Europe, prompting some shoppers to stockpile non-perishable items. "Nestle is seeing hoarding with bouillon, to an extent soups, coffee for sure," Al Bitar told Reuters. Several countries in North Africa and Central Asia are suffering recurring shortages of basic necessities.

☆ Directorul unei mari companii nu crede că angajatii vor reveni full-time la birou după pandemie: „Pare un aspect învechit”
▼ + stars: | 2021-01-17 | by ( ) www.jurnal.md time to read: +1 min

Directorul unei mari companii nu crede că angajatii vor reveni full-time la birou după pandemie: „Pare un aspect învechit”Şeful gigantului anglo-olandez Unilever, Alan Jope, a declarat că angajaţii companiei nu vor mai lucra niciodată cinci zile pe săptămână în cadrul birourilor, afirmând că pandemia de COVID-19 va transforma radical modul în care muncim. „Nu cred că ne vom întoarce vreodată la modelul de cinci zile de muncă de birou pe săptămână. Pare un aspect deja învechit”, spune Alan Jope. Unilever anunţa, la sfârşitul anului trecut, că toţi angajaţii din Noua Zeelandă vor lucra patru zile pe săptămână pentru o perioadă de 12 luni. Unilever, a treia cea mai valoroasă companie din cadrul Bursei din Londra, fiind producătorului unor branduri precum Dove, Lipton, Persil şi Knorr, are aproximativ 150.000 la nivel global.

Persons: olandez, Alan Jope, îşi, Lipton Organizations: olandez Unilever, Unilever Locations: Europa de Vest, America de Nord, Noua Zeelandă, Londra, Dove

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