Royal Mail ’embarrassed’ at lack of shareholder engagement over executive pay October 16, 2018 Royal Mail’s remuneration committee chair Orna Ni-Chionna told MPs today she was “embarrassed” at the failure to engage with its shareholders before a major revolt over the pay for its outgoing chief executive Moya Greene. Ni-Chionna, appearing before the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy select committee, said it was a “huge disappointment” and “shock” that [...]
Protein powerhouse Glanbia shakes things up with $350m acquisition of Slimfast October 11, 2018 Irish nutrition firm Glanbia has today confirmed it has signed a deal to buy popular diet milkshake brand Slimfast for $350m (£264.9m) from US private equity firm Kainos Capital. The weight management business was bought by Kainos Capital from Unilever in 2014. Today's deal is just a fraction of the $2.4bn Unilever paid for Slimfast [...]
Tesco boss Dave Lewis tells court of ‘shock’ at discovery of accounts misstatement October 11, 2018 Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis told Southwark Crown Court today of his “genuine shock” at being presented with an internal memo detailing a £250m misstatement in the supermarket giant’s accounts. Lewis, a witness at the fraud trial of Tesco’s ex-managing director Chris Bush and ex-UK food commercial director John Scouler, said he was presented with [...]
FTSE 100 drops to six-month low on weak oil stocks and uncertainty across Europe October 8, 2018 Weak oil stocks and economic uncertainty across Europe has dragged the FTSE 100 down more than 1 per cent to a six-month low. Britain's top index has fallen today, along with the German DAX despite the pound and euro dropping against the dollar. Read more: Unilever keeps UK headquarters: Investors react Royal Dutch Shell shares [...]
Carrefour jumps on blockchain bandwagon in effort to track food supplies October 8, 2018 Europe’s biggest retailer is to roll out blockchain technology to trace the supply of goods such as chickens and eggs. Carrefour is planning to gradually deploy a blockchain ledger across its fresh product lines over the next several years, in a bid to bolster the security of its global supply chains. The French retailer is employing IBM, [...]
FTSE roundup: This week’s winners and losers October 5, 2018 The FTSE 100 ended the week nearly 86 points down today, with the index losing 1.16 per cent of its value. Unilever's shares are also down 0.4 per cent at 4,061p share following its reversal on its former plans to move headquarters exclusively to Rotterdam. Read more: Unilever scraps proposals to leave London headquarters Intu [...]
Unilever to stay on FTSE 100: How investors reacted October 5, 2018 Unilever’s awkward climbdown over its attempt to move its main listing to the Netherlands is unlikely to be the last, according to one financial expert, as investors reacted to the company’s decision to retain its London headquarters today. Unilever this morning pulled plans to make the Netherlands its sole headquarters and quit its UK offices, after [...]
Unilever scraps proposals to leave London headquarters October 5, 2018 Unilever has abandoned plans to leave its UK headquarters and move its primary listing to the Netherlands. The maker of Dove soap, Lynx and Marmite cited a lack of investor support today for its decision to scrap plans to make Rotterdam its sole HQ, ditching its London offices. Legal & General Investment Management, Schroders and M&G Investments [...]
Unilever’s board has now lost the Lynx effect with UK investors, a new era for spin city and a hand from above October 5, 2018 How ironic that one of the world’s great consumer marketing machines – responsible for brands like Lynx, Persil and Magnum – should be making such a hash of a sales pitch to its own investors. Unilever’s insistence that it remains “confident” of winning this month’s vote to scrap its British headquarters sounds more strained by the [...]
Royal London joins group of investors preparing to vote against Unilever Netherlands move October 3, 2018 Royal London Asset Management is the latest Unilever shareholder to speak out against the company's plan to scrap its London listing and headquarters. Unilever has proposed to simplify its current dual-headed structure into a single holding Dutch company, with a secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange, however a growing list of investors have announced [...]