Unilever

Unilever faces a total tax claim of nearly three billion euros in Brazil. Allegedly, the British group has evaded taxes in the country through various constructions.

The issue of antibiotics in meat production has come to the fore again because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Activists are calling for the systemic use of antibiotics to be removed from the production chain for beef. They are particularly targeting McDonald's, with a petition that is going viral and is pressuring the general shareholders' meeting.

Unilever sales rose again in the first quarter, driven by strong demand from China and India. The food business performed excellently, particularly the segment ice cream for consumption at home.

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.

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.

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.

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.