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Regional rival Air New Zealand Ltd (AIR.NZ) also reported a swing to profit in the first half ended Dec. 31 on Thursday, along with a muted outlook. Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce said cost of living pressures would hit discretionary spending "at some point" but so far the airline expected robust demand into mid-2024 at least. Qantas said it was facing delays of up to six months in new aircraft deliveries from Airbus SE (AIR.PA) alongside other airlines around the world. The Australian carrier said it would bolster its fleet by acquiring some older Airbus planes and exercising nine options for A220 purchases to help meet travel demand growth. "Outlook for RASK is to reduce, however off what we estimate were elevated levels," said Citi analysts in a client note.

☆ Our international business is getting back to pre-Covid capacity 'quite rapidly,' says Qantas CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | 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 EmailOur international business is getting back to pre-Covid capacity 'quite rapidly,' says Qantas CEOAlan Joyce of the Australian airline discusses how it's been faring on the international and domestic fronts after the height of the pandemic.

☆ Qantas is confident it will return to 100% of its pre-Covid capacity in 2024
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Lee Ying Shan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce says he expects the airline to see a full return to pre-Covid capacity in 2024. "We're confident that we'll get back ... 100% of our pre-Covid international capacity, and well over 100% for our domestic capacity," Joyce projected for financial year 2024. ″[There is] really strong demand in leisure, in business ... in corporate," he told CNBC, adding that the pent-up demand will continue for some time. Qantas reported record half-year profits in the six months ended December 2022, but shares still closed 6.8% lower on Thursday. The flagship carrier recorded underlying profit before tax of $1.43 billion Australian dollars ($975.2 million) in half-year ended Dec. 31.

☆ Qantas swings to first-half profit, announces buy-back
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 23 (Reuters) - Qantas Airways Ltd (QAN.AX) posted first-half profit at the top end of its forecast range and announced a A$500 million ($340.30 million) share buy-back on Thursday, as demand for air travel rebounded strongly despite higher fares. The airline said the turnaround to profit was "underpinned by strong travel demand with revenue strength offsetting record fuel prices" during the period. Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce said "supply chain and resourcing issues meant capacity hasn't kept up with demand." "Now those challenges are starting to unwind, we can add more capacity and that will put downward pressure on fares." Qantas warned ongoing challenges in the industry, including aircraft manufacturer delays, supply chain snarls and labor constraints, continued to adversely affect operations.

☆ 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

☆ Writers are worried ChatGPT will steal their jobs. Experts offered 3 reasons why this is unlikely — and even ChatGPT itself agrees.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

They offered three reasons why it's unlikely that ChatGPT will replace them in the future. Although ChatGPT might bring some changes to the workplace, here are three reasons why it's unlikely to replace you. Empathy is another skill ChatGPT doesn't have because we have "a higher order way of thinking about things," Jacobson said. ChatGPT can't beat Google's spam policiesCompanies that publish content written by ChatGPT or other AI tools are likely to be penalized by Google's unbeatable spam policies. "For now, the role of ChatGPT and other AI models in content creation is to augment and assist human content creators, rather than to replace them."

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

☆ Bankers are expecting a terrible bonus season. A survey says 72% will consider quitting if theirs gets cut.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A survey of 1,096 bankers saw 72% of respondents say they will consider resigning if their bonus is cut. "Most people think it's the worst year since the financial crisis," Alan Johnson, managing director of Johnson Associates, previously told Insider. "People are worried about a lot of departures, and the kind of departures of the first-quartile people," a person close to the situation previously told Insider. Other workers in M&A and tech could also face layoffs and slowdowns in hiring, Alan Johnson previously told Insider. On the other end, investment bank advisors will likely have their bonuses cut by 15% to 20%.

☆ 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.

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