After Unilever decides to spin off ice cream biz, HUL plans a tempcheck in India

livemint.com:

NEW DELHI : Hindustan Unilever Ltd on Tuesday said it is “evaluating various options" for its India ice cream business following parent Unilever’s decision to demerge its €7.9 billion ice cream unit by the end of 2025. “The ice cream business has an inherently different business model, including a cold-chain go-to-market operating model, seasonality, and a different innovation rhythm compared to the rest of Unilever's business. As far as the Indian ice cream business is concerned, we are evaluating the various options in light of this announcement," an HUL spokesperson said in response to Mint’s queries.

HUL’s total revenue from operations in FY23 stood at ₹59,144 crore, of which the ice creams unit contributed about 3%. Globally, Unileve’s ice-cream business operates five of the top 10 selling global brands in the category, including Wall’s, Magnum, and Ben & Jerry’s. The brands together delivered turnover of €7.9 billion in 2023 for Unilever.

“The ice cream business for HUL is less than 3% of its India business. But for parent Unilever it is around 13-15%," said Abneesh Roy, analyst at Nuvama Securities. “Important to note that in the tea business, HUL chose to retain it while its parent sold off other countries’ businesses.

So we do see a low probability of any big change in HUL…" HUL is the largest market for Unilever when it comes to the volume of products sold. In India, the packaged consumer goods company’s ice cream business, which includes Kwality Wall’s, Cornetto, and Magnum, falls under the foods and refreshments segment, which reported segmental revenue of ₹14,876 crore in FY23. Unilever has also announced plans to cut 7,500 jobs globally as part of a new programme that’s expected to save it about €800