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Unilever (ULVR)

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BullDog
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Re: Unilever (ULVR)

#475790

Postby BullDog » January 24th, 2022, 4:20 pm

Lootman wrote:
Dod101 wrote: I would have thought fundamental particularly for a bid as big as this was is the need to get shareholders on side beforehand.

Shareholders are asked to approve any accepted bid. But I have not seen a company ask shareholders' permission to make a bid. In fact publicising the intention to make a bid would have the effect of moving the target's price against you.

Aren't these moves usually done discreetly for exactly that reason?

Having sold Unilever last summer I bought back in last week and am pleased to see I am up 12% on the deal. That is the equivalent of three year's worth of dividends in just a few days. The question now is do I grab the profit and run?

Very well done. You know, in your shoes I think I would the money and run.

idpickering
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Re: Unilever (ULVR)

#475794

Postby idpickering » January 24th, 2022, 4:32 pm

BullDog wrote:
Very well done. You know, in your shoes I think I would the money and run.


As a long term investor, including in ULVR, I'm doing nothing, continuing to think long term, and as I've said here before, might just top up my ULVR holdings soon. ;)

Ian.

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Re: Unilever (ULVR)

#475884

Postby Dod101 » January 24th, 2022, 11:09 pm

Lootman wrote:
Dod101 wrote: I would have thought fundamental particularly for a bid as big as this was is the need to get shareholders on side beforehand.

Shareholders are asked to approve any accepted bid. But I have not seen a company ask shareholders' permission to make a bid. In fact publicising the intention to make a bid would have the effect of moving the target's price against you.

Aren't these moves usually done discreetly for exactly that reason?

Having sold Unilever last summer I bought back in last week and am pleased to see I am up 12% on the deal. That is the equivalent of three year's worth of dividends in just a few days. The question now is do I grab the profit and run?


I agree with what you say and that did strike me as well but it seems that big shareholders are expected to keep things under their hat. Is this something new? I do not know but it seems to be accepted that major shareholders ought to be consulted about this sort of bid before the event. They would not be seeking permission, the company would just be seeing how the land lies.

On the question of holding or selling, I would have thought that hanging on is probably the thing to do with the possibility of some sort of corporate action encouraged by activists in the offing. Of course, a 12% profit in a few days? Nothing wrong with taking that.

Dod

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Re: Unilever (ULVR)

#475887

Postby Dod101 » January 24th, 2022, 11:52 pm

Just before closing down for the night, I should maybe say that the idea of consulting major shareholders is not so much matter of seeking their permission as bouncing the idea off them. After all if a rights issue for example is going to be required it would be helpful for the company to know if this will be supported by its major shareholders. They are the owners after all.

Dod

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Re: Unilever (ULVR)

#475888

Postby csearle » January 24th, 2022, 11:54 pm

Was the price hike in Unilever today purely because of the failed bid attempt? Or, was it the hedge fund buying in? Or both?

In the grauniad it said:
The size of Trian’s stake is not known but in the past the hedge fund has taken positions of 1%-3.5% in target companies.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jan/23/pressure-for-shake-up-expected-at-unilever-as-activist-investor-buys-stake-in-firm

What I also don't understand is how a tiny(?) percentage stake in Unilever could enable this fund to do it's stuff, which is apparently its technique in extracting value from its targets?

Chris

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Re: Unilever (ULVR)

#475894

Postby idpickering » January 25th, 2022, 6:00 am

Unilever is said to plan to cut thousands of jobs amid report of Trian stake.

Unilever Plc (NYSE:UL) is said to plan to eliminate thousands of management positions as a way to speed up decision making at the consumer-goods company.
The cuts, potentially in the low thousands, are targeted at numerous regional and divisional roles at the company, according to a Bloomberg report.
News of the job cuts comes after a FT report that activist hedge fund Trian Partners has a stake in Unilever. The size of the stake or when Trian began building it wasn't known. Unilever shares gained 7% on the report.


https://seekingalpha.com/news/3790818-u ... eltz-stake

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Re: Unilever (ULVR)

#475918

Postby daveh » January 25th, 2022, 9:13 am

and from the horses mouth:
https://www.investegate.co.uk/unilever- ... 00025509Z/

Unilever simplifies organisation

London, 25 January 2022 . Unilever today announced changes to its organisational model to make it a simpler, more category-focused business.

The company will move away from its current matrix structure and will be organised around five distinct Business Groups: Beauty & Wellbeing, Personal Care, Home Care, Nutrition, and Ice Cream. Each Business Group will be fully responsible and accountable for their strategy, growth, and profit delivery globally.

Alan Jope, CEO Unilever, explains, "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."



The proposed new organisation model will result in a reduction in senior management roles of around 15% and more junior management roles by 5%, equivalent to around 1,500 roles globally. Changes will be subject to consultation. We do not expect factory teams to be impacted by these changes.

All costs related to setting up the new organisation will be managed within existing restructuring investment plans.

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Re: Unilever (ULVR)

#475921

Postby Dod101 » January 25th, 2022, 9:28 am

daveh wrote:and from the horses mouth:
https://www.investegate.co.uk/unilever- ... 00025509Z/

Unilever simplifies organisation

London, 25 January 2022 . Unilever today announced changes to its organisational model to make it a simpler, more category-focused business.

The company will move away from its current matrix structure and will be organised around five distinct Business Groups: Beauty & Wellbeing, Personal Care, Home Care, Nutrition, and Ice Cream. Each Business Group will be fully responsible and accountable for their strategy, growth, and profit delivery globally.

Alan Jope, CEO Unilever, explains, "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."



The proposed new organisation model will result in a reduction in senior management roles of around 15% and more junior management roles by 5%, equivalent to around 1,500 roles globally. Changes will be subject to consultation. We do not expect factory teams to be impacted by these changes.

All costs related to setting up the new organisation will be managed within existing restructuring investment plans.


Interesting. I doubt that that was done overnight so it seems that Jope has recognised the need to reduce costs. I am amused that they now have a President Ice Cream. The share price continues in the right direction.

Dod

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Re: Unilever (ULVR)

#475931

Postby monabri » January 25th, 2022, 9:51 am

Dod, you beat me too it..."President Ice Cream".. ;)

Overall, though, clear responsibilities to grow each business unit. I wonder how this organisational structure compares to other FMCG companies? It will be interesting ( and no doubt lead to speculation) to read the first annual report with the new structure.

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Re: Unilever (ULVR)

#475939

Postby 77ss » January 25th, 2022, 10:19 am

daveh wrote:and from the horses mouth:
https://www.investegate.co.uk/unilever- ... 00025509Z/

Unilever simplifies organisation

.... "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....




Can't say that I had noticed the said step-up!

This kind of organisational structure may lend itself more readily to divestments/spin-offs etc.

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Re: Unilever (ULVR)

#475963

Postby absolutezero » January 25th, 2022, 11:26 am

idpickering wrote:Unilever is said to plan to cut thousands of jobs amid report of Trian stake.

Unilever Plc (NYSE:UL) is said to plan to eliminate thousands of management positions as a way to speed up decision making at the consumer-goods company.
The cuts, potentially in the low thousands, are targeted at numerous regional and divisional roles at the company, according to a Bloomberg report.
News of the job cuts comes after a FT report that activist hedge fund Trian Partners has a stake in Unilever. The size of the stake or when Trian began building it wasn't known. Unilever shares gained 7% on the report.


https://seekingalpha.com/news/3790818-u ... eltz-stake

Might I suggest there is only one job they need to cut to get some value back into Unilever...?

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Re: Unilever (ULVR)

#475965

Postby absolutezero » January 25th, 2022, 11:29 am

77ss wrote:This kind of organisational structure may lend itself more readily to divestments/spin-offs etc.

Hopefully the ice cream section. The political antics of Ben and Jerry, make ULVR pretty much uninvestable.
I did note one of the Sunday papers had a feature saying the B&J is practically unsellable - for that very reason.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/01/23/unilever-may-unable-offload-ice-cream-lawyers-warn/

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Re: Unilever (ULVR)

#475969

Postby SalvorHardin » January 25th, 2022, 11:35 am

absolutezero wrote:
77ss wrote:This kind of organisational structure may lend itself more readily to divestments/spin-offs etc.

Hopefully the ice cream section. The political antics of Ben and Jerry, make ULVR pretty much uninvestable.
I did note one of the Sunday papers had a feature saying the B&J is practically unsellable - for that very reason.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/01/23/unilever-may-unable-offload-ice-cream-lawyers-warn/

I think that Ben & Jerry's would be a very easy business to sell. There are enough rich people out there whose worship at the altar of woke politics.

It's all a question of price.

Put Ben & Jerry's on the market for one-third of the anticipated price you'd get if it came without the anti-semitism and woke identity politics and they'd be queuing round the block to buy it.

An alternative if no-one was interested in buying it would be to shut it down. Salt the earth and all that. Treat it like Carthage. This would probably require most of the board of Unilever to be sacked.

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Re: Unilever (ULVR)

#475974

Postby absolutezero » January 25th, 2022, 11:41 am

SalvorHardin wrote:An alternative if no-one was interested in buying it would be to shut it down. Salt the earth and all that. Treat it like Carthage. This would probably require most of the board of Unilever to be sacked.

I wouldn't have any objections to any of that... :lol:

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Re: Unilever (ULVR)

#475988

Postby bluedonkey » January 25th, 2022, 12:38 pm

I didn't realise that Ben & Jerry ice cream was anti-semitic.

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Re: Unilever (ULVR)

#476002

Postby Dod101 » January 25th, 2022, 1:21 pm

bluedonkey wrote:I didn't realise that Ben & Jerry ice cream was anti-semitic.


It is not the ice cream that is anti semitic; it would seem though that the Directors of the company are.

Dod

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Re: Unilever (ULVR)

#476009

Postby SalvorHardin » January 25th, 2022, 1:36 pm

bluedonkey wrote:I didn't realise that Ben & Jerry ice cream was anti-semitic.

Ben & Jerry's pulled out of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Doing so breaks laws in many (35 I think) American states concerning boycotts of Israel. Basically Ben & Jerry's is on a blacklist. Institutions in these states can no longer deal with Ben & Jerry's or invest in it (i.e. forced to sell Unilever shares and bonds).

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Re: Unilever (ULVR)

#476022

Postby bluedonkey » January 25th, 2022, 2:10 pm

Dod101 wrote:
bluedonkey wrote:I didn't realise that Ben & Jerry ice cream was anti-semitic.


It is not the ice cream that is anti semitic; it would seem though that the Directors of the company are.

Dod

Are the directors anti-semitic or instead anti-Israel?

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Re: Unilever (ULVR)

#476024

Postby Dod101 » January 25th, 2022, 2:15 pm

bluedonkey wrote:
Dod101 wrote:
bluedonkey wrote:I didn't realise that Ben & Jerry ice cream was anti-semitic.


It is not the ice cream that is anti semitic; it would seem though that the Directors of the company are.

Dod

Are the directors anti-semitic or instead anti-Israel?


I do not know but as SH says they are refusing to sell their wares in the West Bank. The important bit is that although Unilever owns this company, for some reason when they bought it they accepted that the Board of Tom & Jerry's would remain autonomous and Unilever can do nothing about it.

Dod

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Re: Unilever (ULVR)

#476026

Postby TheMotorcycleBoy » January 25th, 2022, 2:23 pm

Dod101 wrote:
bluedonkey wrote:
Dod101 wrote:
bluedonkey wrote:I didn't realise that Ben & Jerry ice cream was anti-semitic.


It is not the ice cream that is anti semitic; it would seem though that the Directors of the company are.

Dod

Are the directors anti-semitic or instead anti-Israel?


I do not know but as SH says they are refusing to sell their wares in the West Bank. The important bit is that although Unilever owns this company, for some reason when they bought it they accepted that the Board of Tom & Jerry's would remain autonomous and Unilever can do nothing about it.

Dod

Arguably more missing "Strategic Vision" by the captain of the guard at that point in their history. How much do they get paid again?


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