Food
The past summer was not one with a lot of hot days and that has had its effect on Unilever’s ice cream sales. The division’s sales therefore slumped 6.7 %.
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Italian Ferrero has struck a deal with Unilever to create Kinder ice cream. Unilever already has plenty of experience in that area, with Magnum as one of its most iconic brands.
Cosmetics
The Dollar Shave Club will arrive on European shores next year. The razor blade subscription service, owned by Unilever, has long since been a success in the United States.
Unilever’s margarine division
British-Dutch Unilever bought British tea company Pukka Herbs, expanding its own tea portfolio even further. It already owns brands like Lipton and PG Tips.
Increasing rumours say that cosmetics company Estée Lauder may be up for sale and that there are a number of interested parties, including L’Oréal and Unilever.
Food companies Unilever and Nestlé will integrate blockchain technology into their supply chain, in collaboration with American IT company IBM. This should improve insights into said chain.
Blackstone and CVC Cap
Over the first six months of 2017, Unilever’s profit and turnover grew substantially, mainly thanks to price increases and a positive evolution in the care and ice cream divisions.
Unilever is allegedly interested in Reckitt Benckiser’s food division, but would have to fend off American Hormel Foods. Price: about 2.5 billion euro.
General
According to research firm Susquehanna, we may very well see a hostile Unilever take-over bid from Kraft Heinz soon, after the company recently rejected a normal bid.
Unilever’s European Works Council and the European labour union federation Effat are not in favour of the British-Dutch company’s intention to sell the margarine division. To that end, they have given CEO Paul Polman a list of demands related to the sale.
Growth in the FMCG market has a clear path: increase your penetration. Colgate, Nivea, Dove and Vim have achieved that the most on a global scale: they continuously expand their reach to new markets.
Kantar Worldpanel has published its top 50 of most popular global brands for the fifth time. Unilever dominates the list, but Coca-Cola still easily holds onto its first place, followed by Colgate and Lifebuoy.
Unilever’s sustainability plan has been the talking point within the company for quite some time, but it is paying off: its sustainable brands have contributed 60 % of the company’s turnover growth in 2016.
Unilever acquired South American company Quala’s care product range to its own portfolio. Similarly to Unilever, Quala has food brands, which will become its new focus.
