Unilever said on Thursday its ice cream business will be separated by way of demerger, through listing of the business in Amsterdam, London and New York.
"This decision follows a full review by the Board of separation options," the company said.
The owner of the popular Magnum and Wall's brands had announced plans last year to separate the ice cream division to win back investor confidence after years of underperformance.
Unilever reported underlying sales growth of 4 per cent for its 2024 financial year, led by 2.9 per cent volume growth.
Turnover increased 1.9 per cent to €60.8 billion (£50.7) with -0.7 per cent impact from currency and -1.5 per cent from net disposals. Underlying operating profit was €11.2bn, up 12.6 per cent versus the prior year.
However, the British consumer goods giant announced falling net profits for 2024, hit by exiting Russia and other restructuring costs. Profit after tax dropped 11 per cent to €5.7bn compared with 2023.
The company’s power brands, which accounts for over 75 per cent of turnover, saw underlying sales growth of 5.3 per cent and volumes rising by 3.8 per cent. with particularly strong performances from Dove, Comfort, Vaseline and Liquid I.V. Fewer.
Underlying earnings per share (EPS) increased 14.7 per cent, while diluted EPS decreased 10.6 per cent due to loss on disposals and accelerated productivity programme spend.
“Today’s results reflect a year of significant activity as we focused on transforming Unilever into a consistently higher performing business,” Hein Schumacher, chief executive, commented.
“Under the Growth Action Plan, we committed to doing fewer things, better and with greater impact. We executed the plan at pace and made progress in 2024.”
The fall in profits reflected the sale of assets and “higher restructuring costs as a result of accelerating the productivity programme,” the company said in its earnings statement.
Unilever at the end of last year sold its Russian subsidiary to Arnest Group, finally joining other multinationals in exiting the country following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The company expects underlying sales growth for full year 2025 to be within its multi-year range of 3 to 5 per cent. It hinted at price increases during the year on account of higher commodity costs, but said it expects a more balanced split between volume and price.
“Market growth, which slowed throughout 2024, is expected to remain soft in the first half of 2025. The steps we have taken in 2024, including the launch of our refreshed GAP2030 strategy, further reinvestment in our brands and strong innovation pipelines leave us better positioned to deliver on our ambitions in the years ahead,” Schumacher said.
Unilever has appointed Jean-Francois van Boxmeer, former boss of Heineken, as chair designate for the separated ice cream business. Currently serving as chair of Vodafone Group Plc and non-executive director of Heineken Holding, he has been the chief executive of Heineken for 15 years.
The separation of Ice Cream, expected to be completed by the end of 2025, will cost thousands of jobs as the group seeks to save €800m by 2026.
