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Unilever: Unilever N.V.
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If the adage 'two heads are better than one' applies to business, then certainly Unilever is a prime example. The food and consumer products giant actually has two parent companies: Unilever PLC, based in the United Kingdom, and Unilever N.V., based in The Netherlands. The two companies, which operate virtually as a single corporation, are run by a single group of directors and are linked by a number of agreements. Unilever considers itself the second largest consumer goods firm in the world, trailing only Philip Morris Companies Inc., and produces numerous brand name foods, cleaning products, and personal care items. About 52 percent of revenues are generated in the foods sector; brands include Imperial and Promise margarines, Lipton tea, Ragú foods, Lawry's seasonings, Breyers ice cream, and Birds Eye and Gorton's frozen foods. One-quarter of sales come from the personal care area; brands include Caress and Dove soap, Pears and Pond's skin care products, Degree, Fabergé, and Sure deodorants, Suave and Salon Selectives hair care items, Close-Up, Mentadent, and Pepsodent oral care products, and Calvin Klein, Elizabeth Arden, and Elizabeth Taylor prestige fragrances--as well as such miscellaneous brands as Q-Tips and Vaseline.
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Unilever is een multinational met een duale bedrijfsstructuur. Deze structuur is vergelijkbaar met die van Reed Elsevier en voorheen met die van de Royal Dutch Shell group. Unilever heeft haar hoofdkantoor (Corporate Centre) op twee locaties; één in Rotterdam (Unilever N.V.) en één in Londen (Unilever PLC). Het bedrijf is producent van producten op het gebied van voedingsmiddelen (Foods), persoonlijke verzorging en schoonmaakartikelen (Home & Personal Care).
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Unilever has two parent companies: Unilever NV in Rotterdam, and Unilever PLC in London. This arrangement is similar to that of Reed Elsevier, and that of Royal Dutch Shell prior to their unified structure. Both Unilever companies have the same directors and effectively operate as a single business. The current non-executive Chairman of Unilever N.V. and PLC is Michael Treschow while Patrick Cescau is Group Chief Executive. Unilever's major competitors include Procter & Gamble, Nestlé, Kraft Foods, Mars Incorporated, and Reckitt Benckiser.
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Unilever has two parent companies: Unilever NV in Rotterdam, and Unilever PLC in London. This arrangement is similar to that of Reed Elsevier, and that of Royal Dutch Shell prior to their unified structure. Both Unilever companies have the same directors and effectively operate as a single business. The current non-executive Chairman of Unilever N.V. and PLC is Michael Treschow while Patrick Cescau is Group Chief Executive. The company is widely listed on the world's stock exchanges.[3] [4]
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Unilever PLC is one of the world’s largest consumer products companies with annual sales of approximately $54.4 billion in 2004. It produces and markets a wide range of foods and home and personal care products. The company operates in 88 countries, employing nearly 223,000 people. Unilever PLC, Unilever N.V. and Unilever together compose the Unilever Group.
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Unilever was an organizational curiosity in that, since 1929, it has been headed by two separate British and Dutch companies—Unilever Ltd. (PLC after 1981), and Unilever N.V.—with different sets of shareholders but identical boards of directors. An "Equalization Agreement" provided that the two companies should at all times pay dividends of equivalent value in sterling and guilders. There were two head offices—in London and Rotterdam—and two chairmen. Until 1996 the "chief executive" role was performed by a three-person Special Committee consisting of the two chairmen and one other director.
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Unilever N.V.