Victory for Mail as Unilever U-turns
Firm will have sole HQ here in boost for Britain Plc
THE consumer goods giant behind Marmite and Dove soap has signalled a major vote of confidence in the UK with its decision to choose London as its sole headquarters.
Unilever has had dual bases in the capital and Rotterdam for 90 years but it is now scrapping that arrangement to become a single business based in Britain.
The major boost comes as Boris Johnson is set for crunch post-Brexit trade talks with top European Union officials after negotiations hit an impasse in recent weeks.
Unilever’s decision to base itself in London represents a U-turn after it was pressured by City investors to abandon an attempted move to the Netherlands in 2018. The plan was seized upon by anti-Brexit campaigners as evidence that the vote to leave had damaged the UK’s global standing.
But Business Secretary Alok Sharma said yesterday’s change of course was a ‘clear vote of confidence in the UK’.
And John Longworth, former Brexit Party MEP and chairman of the Independent Business Network, said: ‘It demonstrates the confidence businesses have in Britain and is contrary to everything the Remain establishment said would happen if we left the
EU.’ Nils Andersen, Unilever’s chairman, yesterday said the original plan was scrapped as investors were concerned it would lead to the company losing its prized place on Britain’s FTSE 100. This would have forced a sell-off of Unilever shares by those who invest in trackers or active funds that only hold shares in FTSE 100 firms.
The Daily Mail has been calling for Unilever to remain in the UK and has urged ministers to consider the impact on the economy if the company moved abroad.
Mr Andersen said: ‘Unilever’s board believes that unifying the company’s legal structure will create greater strategic flexibility, remove complexity and further improve governance.’
He also made clear that Brexit ‘has absolutely nothing to do with the decision here’. He added: ‘We have chosen to unify in the UK and Brexit will not create a problem for this.’ And chief executive Alan Jope, the Scotsman who took the helm at the firm last year, also said their decision between Rotterdam and London in 2018 and their U-turn now have ‘nothing to do with Brexit’.
Unilever was created in 1929 with the merger of Dutch firm Unie with British soap maker Lever Brothers – which dates back to 1885.
The company – whose brands include PG Tips, Dove, Magnum and Hellmann’s – sells goods in 190 countries, employing some 150,000 staff including 6,000 in the UK and 2,500 in the Netherlands.
For the past nine decades, it has had joint legal headquarters in London and Rotterdam. Bosses first proposed ‘going Dutch’ after they were left shaken in 2017 by an aborted £115billion takeover bid from US giant Kraft Heinz.
But an attempt to consolidate the business in the Netherlands a year later was abandoned after it failed to win support. Mr Andersen said of yesterday’s announcement: ‘We remain committed to the Netherlands and the UK and there will be no change to Unilever’s footprint in either country as a result of the change to Unilever’s legal parent structure.’
Yesterday City fund manager M&G Investments, which opposed the move to Rotterdam, welcomed Unilever’s decision to base itself in London. Rupert Krefting, head of corporate finance and stewardship, said: ‘We always thought it made sense to unify the business and we are pleased they have now decided to do that here.’
UNILEVER’S volte-face on moving its headquarters from the UK to Holland is a victory for shareholder democracy, a victory for the Mail’s campaign and a resounding vote of confidence in this country.
The move to Holland, announced at the height of the Brexit debate, was seized on by the Remain camp as proof that leaving the EU would lead to economic catastrophe. Perhaps they will now recognise how wrong they were.