Unilever to cut a third of office jobs in Europe

By Richa Naidu and Radhika Anilkumar

(Reuters) -Unilever plans to cut a third of all office roles in Europe by the end of 2025 as a part of a push by the CEO to revive growth at the consumer goods giant.

The company, whose shareholders include billionaire activist investor and board member Nelson Peltz, has already been trying to streamline its business.

CEO Hein Schumacher, who took over last year, laid out plans in October to win back investor confidence after it had underperformed in the past few years.

Unilever told senior executives on Wednesday that as many as 3,200 roles would be cut in Europe by the end of 2025, according to details of a company-wide call.

"We are now, over the next few weeks, starting the consultation process with employees who may be impacted by the proposed changes," a Unilever spokesperson said in an email.

The Financial Times first reported the details.

The cuts are part of a productivity programme announced in March, which included as many as 7,500 layoffs.

"The expected net impact in roles in Europe between now and the end of 2025 is in the range of 3,000 to 3,200 roles," Constantina Tribou, chief human resources officer, said during the video call.

“These measures mean the biggest job cuts in Unilever for decades," Hermann Soggeberg, the head of Unilever’s European Works Council said in a letter to staff seen by Reuters. He said it was a misnomer to call the cuts a "Productivity Programme" as people who had worked and been productive were now set to lose their livelihoods.

Unilever has already taken steps to shake up its business as part of its plans to revitalise growth. In March, it announced it would spin off its ice cream business, home to popular brands such as Magnum and Ben & Jerry's.

"From a shareholder’s point of view, a turnaround was clearly required at an underperforming business, the presence of an activist on the shareholder register is typically an obvious indicator of that," Jack Martin, a portfolio manager at Oberon Investments, said.

"The ice cream business sale was the first step but moves to streamline the workforce in the coming months speak to the further work that is required to deliver value to shareholders.”

(Reporting by Radhika Anilkumar in Bengaluru and Richa Naidu in London; editing by Savio D'Souza, Jason Neely and Jane Merriman)