Unilever PLC on Thursday outlined listing plans for its Ice Cream business, as it warned of a ‘slower start’ to the new financial year after better-than-expected sales in 2024.

Shares in Unilever were 7.0% lower at 4,421.00 pence each in London on Thursday morning.

The London-based owner of brands such as Marmite and Ben & Jerry’s plans to list its Ice Cream business in Amsterdam, London and New York the same three exchanges on which Unilever PLC shares are currently traded. The Ice Cream business will be incorporated in the Netherlands and will continue to be headquartered in Amsterdam, it said.

Unilever said the Ice Cream separation ‘remains on track and we are making good progress on the key workstreams’. Jean-Francois van Boxmeer has been appointed as chair designate for the separated Ice Cream business. He is currently chair of telecommunications firm Vodafone Group PLC.

The news came as Unilever said pretax profit in 2024 amounted to €8.87 billion, fading 5.0% from €9.34 billion in 2023. Revenue, however, rose 1.9% to €60.75 billion from €59.60 billion, beating the company-compiled consensus of €60.58 billion. Underlying sales growth was 4.2% in 2024, shy of consensus of a 4.3% improvement.

Unilever said underlying sales growth, included volumes up 2.9%, was led by Power Brands, with particularly strong performances from Dove, Comfort, Vaseline and Liquid IV. Power Brands, which equate to more than 75% of turnover delivered USG growth of 5.3% and volume growth of 3.8%.

Underlying sales in Beauty & Wellbeing rose 6.5%, in Personal Care by 5.2%, in Home Care by 2.9%, in Foods by 2.6% and Ice Cream by 3.7%. This was supported by brand and marketing investment up 120 basis points to 15.5%, its highest level in over a decade.

Chief Executive Hein Schumacher said: ‘We continue to sharpen our portfolio, allocating capital to premium segments by acquiring scalable brands in attractive markets, such as K18 and Minimalist, and announcing the divestment of local food brands such as Unox and Conimex, as we focus our Foods portfolio on cooking aids and condiments categories. The comprehensive productivity programme we announced in March is being implemented at pace and we are ahead of plan in helping to create a leaner and more accountable organisation.’

Unilever said its plans to deliver €800 million of cost savings is ‘ahead of plan’, with in-year savings in 2024 of €200 million.

Unilever declared a €0.4528 per share fourth-quarter dividend, up 6.1% on-year. In addition, it announced a new €1.5 billion share buyback.

Looking ahead, Unilever said it expects ‘underlying sales growth for full year 2025 to be within our multi-year range of 3% to 5%.’

‘We anticipate a slower start to 2025 with subdued market growth in the near term. We expect the market and our growth to improve during the year as price increases, reflecting higher commodity costs in 2025. We expect a more balanced split between volume and price.’

Unilever anticipates a modest improvement in underlying operating margin for the full year versus 18.4% in 2024 and expects this improvement to be realised in the second half given strong comparisons.

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