Unilever ice-cream spin-off delayed by US government shutdowns

Unilever has been forced to delay the demerger of its ice-cream business from the wider FMCG group due to the shutdown of government offices in the US, Just Food reports.

The spin-off, which has been in the pipeline since early 2024, was expected to be finalised in mid-November with subsequent stock market listings in New York, London and Amsterdam under The Magnum Ice Cream Company (TMICC).

In a brief filing today (21 October) with the London stock exchange, Unilever said: “The revision to the timetable has arisen because the US Securities and Exchange Commission is currently unable to declare effective the US registration statement required for The Magnum Ice Cream Company NV shares to be admitted to listing and trading on the New York Stock Exchange.”

Otherwise, the separation is still on course albeit Unilever is not able to set a new timetable, Just Food reports.

“The preparatory work for the demerger is on track and progressing well, and Unilever remains committed to and confident of implementing the demerger in 2025,” the Ben & Jerry’s and Carte D’Or ice-cream brand owner added.

TMICC is headed up by CEO Peter ter Kulve and CFO Abhijit Bhattacharya.

As previously announced, the consumer goods giant will retain a 20% interest in the business for up to five years, a stake that Unilever plans to gradually wind down.

Meanwhile, shareholders voted and approved today the post-consolidation of shares following the spin-off but Unilever warned the final process will also be delayed due to the US government shutdowns.

Those shutdowns have entered a third week amid a dispute between government parties over budget funding for 2026.

Announcing its first-half results in July, Unilever said the share consolidation will reduce the total number of shares on the market and is “designed to maintain comparability between Unilever’s share price, earnings per share and dividends per share before and after the demerger”.

The delay has been advised two days before Unilever reports its third-quarter results on Thursday.

In the opening six months of the year, Unilever delivered underlying sales growth (USG) for the group business of 3.4% for a turnover of €30.1bn ($34.9bn). Volumes (UVG) were up 1.5%.

Ice-cream growth outperformed, with a USG print of 5.9% to €4.6bn and a volume increase of 3.8%.

The rest of the food business underperformed both the group and ice-cream segments, with USG of 2.2% to €6.6bn and UVG of 0.3%.

At its capital markets day in September, Unilever said it expected to incur €800m in separation costs from the ice-cream spin-off, mainly from technology, of which 80% will be realised by the end of 2026.

Restructuring costs will amount to around 0.8% of group revenues from 2025-2028.

Supplying both the retail and foodservice channels, TMICC will command a 21% global market share ahead of Froneri’s 11%, in what was described as “two global pure-play ice-cream players”.

UK-headquartered Froneri is a joint venture between Nestlé and PAI Partners, the private-equity firm that was recently joined in its investment by the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.