General
Although the coronavirus crisis had a significant positive sales effect on the type of products sold by Unilever, overall the cleaning and food products group recorded stable results in 2020.
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Unilever has put forward ambitious plans to help create a more balanced and inclusive society.
Food
Alan Jope, CEO of Unilever, thinks global consumption will remain at a low level for a while, despite signs of improvement in East Asia, Latin America and elsewhere.
It will not be easy for food retailers to beat the record figures they recorded in the corona year 2020, but in any case, the pandemic has amplified some trends that will determine the food sector this year and in the years to come. An analysis.
Cosmetics
Unilever is investing millions in seaweed: the FMCG producer is developing cleaning agents with algae and wants to use them to create self-cleaning surfaces. The creator of products such as Cif and Dove believes it to be a promising market.
Enrico-Glasbest acquires the European pasta sauce, pesto and mayonnaise business under the Bertolli brand from Unilever. Previously, the FMCG giant had already sold the Italian brand's olive oil and margarine.
Since Sunday, Unilever has legally become an entirely British company. This puts an end to years of wrangling between the Netherlands and the United Kingdom over the multinational's seat.
Unilever wants to achieve a turnover of at least 1 billion euro within five to seven years with vegetable alternatives to meat and dairy. The multinational expects an explosive growth of the market.
Despite the corona crisis, Unilever has had a more than solid quarter. In particular, the company sold more products through supermarkets, compensating for the decline in sales in the out-of-home segment.
European Parliament is voting this week on a possible ban on terms such as 'veggie burger' and 'vegan sausages'. According to the meat industry, such terms only confuse consumers.
Following the Dutch vote, British shareholders now also voted in favour of moving Unilever to London. The only thing that can stop the departure now is a fine that Dutch politicians want to impose.
Amazon is going to indicate which products are sustainable. It does this with a new label 'Climate Pledge Friendly', which shows which articles on the marketplace have one or more sustainable certificates.
Unilever's Dutch shareholders agree to move the FMCG producer to London. Despite the threat of a departure penalty of 11 billion euros, the shareholders voted almost unanimously in favour.
Anglo-Dutch Unilever aims to shed its dual nationality and become fully British by the end of November, following shareholders' meetings in both countries. However, the Dutch may consider countermeasures.
Unilever has exceeded expectations last semester: profit grew even during the height of the Covid-19 crisis. Still, the company decided to divest (most of) its tea segment.
L'Oréal is going to remove all references to "whitening" on its skin products. The cosmetics group will no longer use words like "white" or "fair", in response to the current movement and protests against racism.
