LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Unilever: Unilever Group
built 176 days ago
In its bid to concentrate on fewer, core brands, Unilever disposed of 27 businesses during 2000 for a consideration of approximately $642 million (£404,7 million). The company sold, amongst others, the European Bakery Business, Benedicta a culinary business in France and various other small businesses and brands. The same year, Unilever acquired several high-profile companies, including American based Bestfoods, which strengthened Unilever’s market position remarkably. Other important acquisitions were Groupo Cressida Central America Foods (Home & Personal Care) Corporation JABONERIA NA (Ecuador, Foods, Home & Personal Care), Amora Maille (France, Culinary Products) Codepar/SPCD (Tunisia, Home & Personal Care), Ben & Jerry's (USA, Ice Cream), and SlimoFast (USA, Slimming Products). The total purchase consideration for businesses other than Bestfoods (total number: nineteen) was approximately $4,451 million (£2,8 million) [5]. The acquisition of Bestfoods made Unilever's foods business the world's second largest after Nestle.
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Euromonitor International’s Unilever Group Company Profile offers detailed strategic analysis of the company’s business, examining its performance in the health and wellness products market. The report examines company shares by region and sector, brand portfolio and new product developments, market and distribution strategies, challenges from the competition and future prospects. Use it to understand opportunities and threats facing the business and the factors driving success....
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In early 1999 Unilever spent a large portion of its war chest on a special dividend to shareholders of £5 billion (US$8.1 billion). In July of that year Tabaksblat retired and was replaced as Dutch cochairman by Antony Burgmans. Two months later Unilever announced that it would eliminate about 1,200 of its brands to focus on around 400 regionally or globally powerful brands--a group that accounted for almost 90 percent of 1998 revenue. This sweeping overhaul of the product portfolio was aimed at increasing annual growth rates from four percent to six to eight percent and at eventually reaping annual savings of £1 billion.
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By 1964 Unilever had merged the three into one company, John West Foods. Branches were expanded to Australia (now http://www.johnwest.com.au/) and Africa in 1974. In 1997 Heinz acquired the brand and John West Food company.[3] In March 2006, Heinz sold off the John West brands for EUR 425 million (£295m) to the Lehman Brothers banking group. [4]
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Either of two linked companies, Unilever PLC (based in London) and Unilever NV (based in Rotterdam). They are the holding companies for more than 500 firms worldwide that manufacture and sell soaps, foods, and other products. The modern Unilever was established in 1929 as an association between the British manufacturer Lever Bros. and several other European soap and margarine manufacturers. Today most Unilever sales are in household products, including soaps and detergents, margarines, cooking fats, dairy products, toiletries, and packaged and processed foods. The group ... produces paper and plastic products, industrial chemicals, and animal feeds.
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This work examines the Unilever Group using three main analytical tools. The SWOT analysis examines the internal strengths and weaknesses of Unilever and the external opportunities and threats. The PESTEL analysis relates Unilever with the political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal issues surrounding it. Porter’s Five Forces examine Unilever in relation to competitive rivalry, barriers to entry into the different markets that it operates, how serious is the threat of substitutes that its competitors can produce and how significant is the power of the company’s suppliers and buyers. Some key points to consider here are: 1. the fact that Unilever is a multinational corporation with 400 brands spanning across 14 categories in 3 main markets: home, personal care and foods; 2. the reasons for tightening its existing product portfolio while strengthening its investment on other products (e.g.
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