The consumer goods manufacturer Unilever has become big in recent decades with ice cream brands such as Langnese. Now the group wants to forego business with Flutschfinger and Co. and also cut thousands of jobs.
The British Unilever group wants to save money and has announced the reduction of around 7,500 jobs. Overall, the company wants to spend around 800 million euros less over the next three years.
But it’s not just employees that are on CEO Hein Schumacher’s cross-list – the consumer goods manufacturer’s product portfolio is to be thoroughly cleaned out. Schumacher had already announced a few months ago that Unilever wanted to concentrate on around 30 brands in the future, which accounted for around 70 percent of sales.
Unilever is repositioning itself – without Langnese and Co.
It is now clear: the Unilever ice cream division with brands such as Langnese, Magnum, Viennetta and Ben & Jerry’s is to be spun off from the group by the end of next year. This is the “most likely path,” Unilever said on Tuesday. In order to maximize the return for shareholders, “other separation options” should also be considered, the company said in a statement. Langnese has been part of the Unilever group since the 1930s.
Brandt, Nescafé & Co.
These manufacturers are behind the Aldi brands
According to the information, the reason for the planned spin-off of the ice cream business is, among other things, the division’s weak growth. Last year it generated sales of around 7.9 billion euros. Group-wide it was almost 60 billion euros.
The four divisions of beauty and well-being, personal care, household care and nutrition will remain in the group. Here Unilever has the brands Axe, Dove, Omo, Rexona, Signal, Knorr and Pfanni, among others. Around 128,000 people currently work for the group worldwide, and in Germany there are around 3,000 at six locations. The headquarters are in Hamburg.
Sources: news agencies Reuters, AFP and DPA
Source: Stern
