Its rival Nestle SA has managed steady sales growth, while pulling off some canny acquisitions and disposals. ADADHe also needs to decide in which categories Unilever wants to compete, and reshape its sprawling portfolio accordingly. Unilever, meanwhile, has been less bold, undertaking a plethora of small acquisitions — from fake meat to fancy laundry products. The food unit could have an enterprise value of 55 billion euros ($61 billion), according to UBS analysts. So offloading it would generate proceeds to invest in higher growth products, while allowing the return of cash to investors.

Source: Washington Post December 17, 2019 12:11 UTC