Unilever on Tuesday said it may spin off the ice cream-unit that produces Ben & Jerry’s as the multinational consumer goods company said it expects to slash 7,500 jobs globally.
Unilever said the ice cream unit, whose other brands include Wall’s and Magnum, has distinct characteristics from its other businesses, such as needing a supply chain and point of sale that supports frozen goods, more seasonality and greater capital intensity.
The unit that had 7.9 billion euros ($8.6 billion) in sales last year “most likely” will be demerged, but Unilever said it would consider other alternatives in a process that is expected to take until the end of 2025.
According to Unilever, a separate productivity program for the rest of the business is expected to deliver 800 million euros of savings over three years. Unilever said it’s cutting “around 7,500 predominately office-based roles globally,” and its restructuring plan will cost around 1.2% of revenue for the next three years, up from a previous cost of 1% of revenue per year.
Unilever said it’s trying to turn into a higher-growth, higher margin business. Last year it recorded what it calls underlying sales growth of 7% on an operating margin of 16.7%.
Unilever’s London-listed shares ULVR UL have been flat this year and dropped 7% over the last 52 weeks.
