(Reuters) -Unilever said on Thursday it would demerge its ice cream business and list it in Amsterdam, London and New York, as part of its chief executive’s plans to trim costs and simplify the group after years of underperformance.
The owner of the popular Magnum and Wall’s brands announced the details of the listing structure alongside annual results and a 1.5 billion euros ($1.57 billion) share buyback.
Unilever’s shares trade on the same three stock exchanges where it plans to list its ice cream business, which will be incorporated in the Netherlands and continue to be headquartered in Amsterdam, it said.
“This decision follows a full review by the Board of separation options,” the company said.
CEO Hein Schumacher laid out a new cost-cutting strategy at the consumer goods company last year, including separating the ice cream division and cutting thousands of jobs to address what he called years of underperformance.
Some analysts had preferred a clean sale or joint venture of the ice cream division, or a joint US/UK listing as it reduced the risk of flow-back – when investors sell shares in a foreign company back to investors who live in the country.
Unilever reported fourth-quarter underlying sales growth of 4% on Thursday, compared with a 4.1% forecast by analysts in a company-compiled poll.
Jean-Francois van Boxmeer has been appointed Chair Designate for the separated ice cream business, it said on Thursday.
The British company expects a slower start to 2025 due to subdued market growth in the near term, although it forecast its 2025 underlying sales growth to be within its multi-year range of 3%-5%.
“The comprehensive productivity programme we announced in March is being implemented at pace and we are ahead of plan,” Schumacher said in a statement.
($1 = 0.9584 euros)
(Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Bernadette Baum)
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