Hindustan Unilever (HUL) at its board meeting held on Friday discussed the way forward for its ice-cream business and has decided to constitute a committee of independent directors for the same.
In a release, the maker of Magnum ice-cream said, “After due consideration, the board has decided to constitute a committee of independent directors of the company (“Independent Committee”) to evaluate in detail the prospects of the company’s ice-cream business and to make recommendations to the board on the best way forward, keeping in mind the interests of all our stakeholders.”
It also said, “Based on the recommendation of the Independent Committee, the matter will be placed for final consideration of the audit committee and the board at their respective meetings to be scheduled in due course.”
In its stock exchange filing, the company said that the board also accorded its approval to explore potential structures and alternatives for the same.
This comes after the parent company, Unilever, stated earlier this year that it would separate its global ice-cream business across jurisdictions.
For HUL, its ice-cream business contributes to less than 5 per cent of its total turnover. In FY24, its turnover stood at Rs 59,579 crore.
In March, Unilever also announced the launch of a comprehensive productivity programme to drive focus and growth through a leaner and more accountable organisation. Unilever had then also started the consultation process in Europe with employees who may be impacted by the proposed changes.
The Financial Times had reported that the global consumer major’s new CEO, Hein Schumacher, has planned this move to boost growth at the company. This move will cause 3,200 roles to be cut across Europe and is part of the cost savings programme announced in March, which included as many as 7,500 jobs.
HUL had earlier told Business Standard in an email statement that it will closely assess global initiatives of Unilever under the productivity programme and evaluate what works best for its business and its people, as its parent recently told its employees that it will cut a third of its office-based jobs in Europe by the end of 2025.
“We will closely assess the global initiatives of Unilever under the productivity programme and evaluate what works best for our business and our people,” HUL had then said.
It also added, “In HUL, we have been continuously transforming to unlock productivity. For instance, we have a very robust cost savings programme called Symphony, that we have been driving for many years. Through an end-to-end focus across all lines of the P&L (profit & loss), we have been generating gross savings of around 6 per cent of turnover every year.”
First Published: Sep 06 2024 | 6:35 PM IST
