Unilever’s chief financial officer has defended the company in its row with Tesco over price rises for household brands ranging from Marmite to Persil, describing the increases as “normal”. Unilever is one of Britain’s biggest suppliers of branded food and household goods and claims its products are found in 98% of UK households. Ultimately, the effect of these cost increases will be felt by consumers.”Shares in Unilever and Tesco opened lower on Thursday, with Unilever down by 2% and Tesco falling by 2.5%. Tesco said: “We are currently experiencing availability issues on a number of Unilever products. We hope to have this issue resolved soon.”A spokesman said the supermarket was offering Unilever products as usual in stores, even though they had vanished from its website.

Source: The Guardian October 13, 2016 07:44 UTC