Marmite maker cutting 1,500 jobs

MARMITE: Like Brexit, you either love it or hate it!

The giant consumer foods maker Unilever, has announced that it will be cutting 1,500 jobs as part of a huge shake up of its global operations. The announcement comes as shareholders demand higher returns.
The company isn’t saying where the losses will come from but it has indicated that the new structure is designed to make it more nimble and better placed to meet the challenges ahead.
The cuts it is understood will mainly affect management roles within the maker of products from Dove soap to Marmite. The restructure will result in five distinct divisions: Beauty & Wellbeing, Personal Care, Home Care, Nutrition, and Ice Cream.
The UK based firm employs 6,000 staff locally and 149,000 worldwide, but it has yet to say whether the UK will be affected by the cuts. Factory operations it has said will continue with no cuts at this point in time.
CEO Alan Jope has been under pressure from shareholders concerned about performance and the failed bid to take GlaxoSmithKline’s consumer healthcare division. Activist investor Nelson Peltz’s Trian Partners had reportedly built a significant stake in the company amid the bid process last week that saw Unilever’s stock crumple.
Values only recovered when Unilever confirmed there would be no further offer beyond the £50bn that had been rejected by GSK on value grounds.
Jope said: “Our new organisational model has been developed over the last year and is designed to continue the step-up we are seeing in the performance of our business.
“Moving to five category-focused Business Groups will enable us to be more responsive to consumer and channel trends, with crystal-clear accountability for delivery. Growth remains our top priority and these changes will underpin our pursuit of this.”
Jope declined to be drawn on where the marmite maker intended cutting jobs.


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Written by

Peter McLaren-Kennedy

Originally from South Africa, Peter is based on the Costa Blanca and is a web reporter for the Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.

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