1,500 middle managers face axe at Unilever

UnILEVER will get rid of 1,500 jobs in an effort to streamline its sprawling business.

The beleaguered FTSE100 company will lay off 15pc of its senior managers and 5pc of its junior managers to simplify its structure into five units.

The maker of Marmite, Hellmann’s mayonnaise and Dove soap employs 149,000 people worldwide with 6,000 in the UK and Ireland. It did not say how many of the cuts would be in the UK.

The announcement comes after a disastrous two weeks for company chief executive Alan Jope, who had hoped to kickstart a turnaround after years of slow growth and underperforming shares.

He was blasted by top shareholder Terry Smith, who said the company had ‘lost the plot’ by focusing on burnishing its ‘sustainability credentials’ at the expense of the ‘fundamentals of the business’.

Jope was then forced onto the defensive after details were leaked of his £50bn approach for Glaxosmithkline’s consumer arm, which includes brands such as nicorette.

The now abandoned deal was blasted by major shareholders and analysts, and wiped £10bn, around 10pc, off Unilever’s value as shares crashed.

Investment manager Flossbach von Storch, which owns 1pc, has urged Jope to stick to improving performance rather than chasing costly deals. And renowned activist investor nelson Peltz has taken a stake. His £6.3bn new York-based fund has a track record of boosting companies’ performance by pushing for splits and spin-offs.

Unilever plans five units, beauty and wellbeing, personal care, home care, nutrition, and ice cream, and outlined a slew of leadership changes. Its announcement failed to move shares which fell by 0.2pc, or 7.5p, to 3936p.