CONSUMER giant Unilever announced yesterday it was cutting out the ice cream in a bid to slim down.

The firm is to split out its £6bn-plusturnover ice cream business, including mega-brands Ben & Jerry's and Wall's, which it says will help streamline the business and focus on its "core strengths."

The split will complete in 2025, with "all" options on the table after that - including a sale.

The decision came alongside an accelerated cost-cutting programme which will affect 7,500 jobs, as still relatively fresh CEO Hein Schumacher looks to inject some momentum into a business which has underperformed in recent years.

The firm hopes to bring its cost base down by just shy of £700m.

The moves are thought to be influenced by the billionaire activist investor Nelson Peltz. Peltz acquired a stake in the firm two years ago, in 2022, and at the time, investors cheered his arrival following his success at Unilever's peer Procter & Gamble.

Schumacher, who originally joined from a Dutch dairy giant last July, previously told investors the cosmetics and confectionery maker was not "reaching its potential" and the firm had "under-delivered".

In an update at the start of the year, he described the brand's competitiveness as "disappointing" and added that the company's "overall performance" needed to improve.

Investors cheered the moves, with the firm's shares up more than 3 per cent at the close yesterday, as did analysts.

"The division in question is noted for its lower growth compared to Unilever's overall performance, suggesting that the demerger might not significantly alter the company's growth trajectory," Charlie Beckett, head of equity research at Quilter Cheviot said yesterday.

(c) 2024 City A.M., source Newspaper