Unilever Spreads Division's CEO Quits
January 19 2016 - 2:40AM
Dow Jones News
LONDON—The chief executive of Unilever PLC's underperforming
spreads division has resigned, after just one year in the role.
Sean Gogarty stepped down last month to pursue other
opportunities, according to the contents of an internal memo
reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. He has been replaced by
Nicolas Liabeuf, formerly senior vice president of marketing
operations.
Unilever—which is far and away the world's largest margarine
maker—in December 2014 moved to hive off its margarine business
into a stand-alone division after years of weak sales, naming Mr.
Gogarty to be the unit's head and sparking speculation the business
would be sold.
Unilever has in the past insisted that it won't sell spreads,
which gives it a consistent cash flow and makes up roughly 5% of
company sales but about 8% of profit according to Socié té Gé né
rale.
But margarine has looked increasingly out of step with the rest
of Unilever's portfolio as the company has made a series of
high-end acquisitions in personal care and divested several bits of
its food portfolio. The spread has fallen out of favor as consumers
eat less bread and, when they do, have embraced butter as a more
wholesome, natural option.
Unilever's so-called Baking, Cooking and Spreads division—which
doesn't include emerging markets spreads—became fully operational
in July of last year and chief financial officer Graeme Pithketly
has said investors should judge its performance through 2016.
Unilever has pushed into baking ingredients, liquid margarine for
cooking and blends of vegetable oil and butter and is working to
cut the unit's costs.
The Anglo Dutch company reports fiscal 2015 results on Tuesday
morning.
Write to Saabira Chaudhuri at saabira.chaudhuri@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 19, 2016 02:25 ET (07:25 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Unilever (NYSE:UL)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Unilever (NYSE:UL)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024