Unilever's yet-to-be-spun-off ice cream division will remain Dutch, with its headquarters remaining in Amsterdam. Unilever announced this during the presentation of its 2024 figures. The company will be led by former Heineken CEO Jean-Paul van Boxmeer.
The new company will be listed on the stock exchange later this year. This will happen simultaneously in Amsterdam, London and New York, where Unilever shares are already traded.
The ice cream division performed well last year. Better than Unilever's food activities as a whole. The food division suffered from a cooling market and a more moderate price development, which resulted in a 2,6% growth in turnover. Ice cream suffered less from this and was able to increase prices further, while sales volume also increased (+1,6%). As a result, turnover of the ice cream activities increased by 3,7%.
According to Unilever, the total turnover of the ice cream activities amounts to 14% of the total turnover, or €8,5 billion of the €60,8 billion over the past year.
The rising prices for dairy (especially cream) and also for cocoa were also a factor to take into account for Unilever last year, but did not really put pressure on the margin. This year, that will no longer be completely preventable, the multinational fears.
Unilever continues to work on a different corporate profile. The ice cream division is simply set aside, but many other food activities are simply sold, as was the case last year with Unox and Conimex. The brands Knorr and Hellman's may remain for the time being.