Unilever to move its HQ out of UK – but not because of Brexit

THE company behind Marmite, PG Tips and Colman’s mustard is to stop calling Britain home – but insists the move is not a response to Brexit.

Unilever fears the UK’s weak takeover laws could leave it unable to fend off a hostile bid from a foreign rival.

The consumer goods giant confirmed yesterday that it has chosen Rotterdam as its sole headquarters. Unilever has been based jointly in the Dutch port and London since it was created in the 1930s by the merger of Britain’s Lever Brothers and Margarine Unie of the Netherlands.

But a £115billion takeover bid last year by US giant Kraft Heinz prompted the rethink. Union chiefs and politicians said the UK’s lax approach to company takeover rules was to blame, with the Netherlands offering more protection.

Although Unilever’s bosses denied this, saying the reasons for the move were ‘technical’,

UNILEVER is preparing to open a £2 million cutting-edge research and development centre in Port Sunlight, Wirral. It is already the base for 750 scientists developing new technologies for home care and personal care products.

The location has history for Unilever. It gave its name to Lever Brothers’ famous Sunlight soap in the 1880s and housed the company’s first purpose- built research laboratory, which opened in 1911. Several of its most successful products have been created there.

its chief executive Paul Polman has complained that the UK had left it vulnerable to predators. The company stressed that 7,300 existing jobs in the UK are safe, including in its factories and multi-millionpound research and development centres.

Two of its three main divisions will be based in London – a decision bosses said proved the move was not related to Brexit. Mr Polman said: ‘ Unilever is in 190 countries in the world. Most of these are not in the European Union. We are able to run our business quite effectively. Let me categorically say, this has nothing to do with Brexit. We think both countries are highly attractive investment climates and we will continue to invest in both countries.’

He said the move was because 55 per cent of Unilever’s shareholders are based in the Netherlands and more of the company’s shares are traded there.

The restructure means Unilever’s beauty and personal care and its home care divisions – which bring in 60 per cent of its sales – will be managed from London. It will keep its building on the banks of the Thames and intends its main stock exchange listing to be in London, although it could lose its prized place in the FTSE 100 index.

A spokesman for the Government, which had been lobbying Unilever intensely, said the announcement showed the company’s commitment to the UK.