Unilever confirmed on Tuesday that it plans to cut approximately 3,000 jobs in the United Kingdom as part of a wider global restructuring programme that will eliminate 7,500 positions worldwide over the next two years. The London-headquartered consumer goods company, whose brands include Dove, Lynx, Hellmann’s, Ben & Jerry’s and PG Tips, said the cuts were necessary to reduce costs and “create a simpler, more agile organisation” capable of competing more effectively against fast-growing rivals and private label products.
Chief executive Hein Schumacher, who took the helm in 2023 and has been under sustained pressure from activist investors to improve Unilever’s financial performance, framed the restructuring as the next phase of the company’s transformation following last year’s separation of its ice cream division, which included Ben & Jerry’s and Walls, into a standalone listed company. “The actions we are announcing today are difficult but necessary,” Schumacher said. “They will make Unilever a more focused, more efficient and ultimately more successful business.”
The UK job losses are concentrated at Unilever’s Port Sunlight site in Merseyside, its Kingston upon Thames headquarters, and its research and development facilities in Colworth, Bedfordshire. The Unite union, which represents a significant proportion of Unilever’s UK workforce, described the announcements as “a devastating blow” to workers and their families and called on the government to intervene to protect jobs at sites with long histories of manufacturing and innovation.
The restructuring is expected to generate annual cost savings of approximately £800 million once fully implemented, with one-off restructuring charges of £1.2 billion spread across 2026 and 2027. The savings will be reinvested partly in marketing and innovation for Unilever’s thirty “power brands” — the company’s highest-growth product lines — and partly returned to shareholders through an expanded buyback programme.
Unilever’s shares rose 2.7% following the announcement, reflecting investor approval of the cost reduction measures despite the human cost involved. The stock has underperformed the wider consumer staples sector over the past three years, and activist investors have argued that more radical action on costs and portfolio simplification is needed to close the valuation gap with rivals such as Nestlé and Procter & Gamble.
— Edward Blackwell, London Capital Post
