Unilever plans thousands of job cuts as investors increase pressure

theguardian.com:

The Marmite maker Unilever is planning thousands of job cuts as it comes under mounting pressure from a US activist investor and other shareholders to improve its performance.

The FTSE 100 company, known for brands such as Dove soap, Hellmann’s mayonnaise and Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream, intends to cut thousands of management roles across its operations, according to a source. They are expected to be in the “low thousands”.

Unilever employs about 150,000 people worldwide, including 6,000 in the UK and Ireland. The company declined to comment on the planned cuts, which were first reported by Bloomberg News.

The chief executive, Alan Jope, has been under pressure for months to revive sales growth as the company missed its profit margin targets. In recent days it emerged that the US activist investor Nelson Peltz has built a stake in the troubled company.

Jope had a tilt at GSK’s consumer health venture, but Unilever’s £50bn offer was rejected as too low by GSK and drew fury from shareholders, forcing the group to abandon its interest last week.

The outspoken fund manager Terry Smith, the founder of Fundsmith and one of Unilever’s top shareholders, described the failed offer as a “near-death experience” and said management should focus on improving its core business – or step down. He had already declared that Unilever had “lost the plot”, accusing management of pursuing sustainability at the expense of business performance.

As the furore built, Unilever rushed out a strategy update early last week in which it promised to grow its health, beauty and hygiene business and sell slower-growing operations.

The statement hinted at the cuts: “Later this month we will announce a major initiative to enhance our performance. After a