Unilever initiated a review of its global tea business after the company posted its slowest quarterly growth in a decade. The 1.5 per cent fourth-quarter gain in underlying sales growth at the maker of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and Dove soap compared with a 1.4 per cent consensus analyst estimate. Consumers have been shifting away from black tea to herbal tea, hitting the owner of Lipton. The personal-care business, Unilever’s largest, was hurt by weak pricing of shampoo and other hair products in the US in the latest quarter, compounding the Anglo-Dutch company’s woes. The results cap a tough first year at the helm for Mr Jope, who has said he wants the company to be a benchmark of how businesses can do well by doing good.

Source: The Irish Times January 30, 2020 07:30 UTC