Unilever loses weight through Slim Fast

09/02/05 Unilever is set to admit that its $2.6bn acquisition of Slim Fast in 2000 was a failure, when half the value of the diet foods business is written down. The Anglo-Dutch group looks set to write down the value of the Slim Fast business by about 1 billion euros when it announces its results today. Reports of the writedown led to a 1.1 percent drop in the value of Unilever shares in Amsterdam. The Slim Fast brand has been particularly hit through the surge in low carb, Atkins style diets in the US.

The Unilever Group is set to announce a ditching of targets set about in its unsuccessful strategy for the past five years (The Path to Growth). Unilever also looks set to announce a radical reshaping of the company, which will see the power of its joint chairmanship shift to London. Joint chairmen Patrick Cescau in the UK and Antony Burgmans in the Netherlands will change roles, becoming chief executive and executive chairman in charge of strategy respectively.

Meanwhile Unilever has sold its Crisp 'n Dry and Cookeen businesses to Princes, supplier of canned fish and meat and Shippams sandwich pastes. The sale comes as part of the conglomerate's strategy to focus on fewer bigger brands. The transaction does not involve margarines but solely the oil and cooking fat businesses, which includes Mazola and Spry Crisp 'n' Dry.