By Alexander Marrow and Lisa Jucca
LONDON (Reuters) – Magnum dismissed talk of selling Ben & Jerry’s on Wednesday and said its focus was on reclaiming market share and growing sales as Unilever’s spin-off of the Magnum Ice Cream Company approaches.
Unilever expects the ice cream business, which includes brands such as Magnum, Ben & Jerry’s, Wall’s and Cornetto, to command just over a fifth of the around $88 billion global ice cream market and compete with rivals such as Nestle-backed Froneri.
Magnum is already operating separately to Unilever and after years of declining ice cream market share and stagnant profits, CEO Peter ter Kulve said the shift has allowed the company to invest in supply chains, sales and distribution.
“Last year, we had a massive (market) share step up,” ter Kulve said.
Ben & Jerry’s seized the spotlight at an investor day ahead of the mid-November listing on Tuesday, renewing a call for its own spin-off after years of clashes over the U.S. brand’s vocal position on Gaza.
Asked about an approach led by co-founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield to buy the brand last year, ter Kulve said: “I have not been privy to any discussion between Unilever and Ben & Jerry.”
“Ben & Jerry’s is not for sale.”
Unilever will retain a less than 20% stake after the Magnum listing. Asked whether a 15 billion euro ($17.55 billion) valuation, as reported by some media outlets, was accurate, ter Kulve said: “The market will decide.”
Magnum CFO Abhijit Bhattacharya said the split would give Unilever more focus and Magnum the opportunity to improve margins.
Bhattacharya said the terms of the demerger, under which every Unilever shareholder gets a relative stake in Magnum, shields the company from market volatility that an initial public offering might face.
The new ice cream business will test investor appetite for a sugar-heavy product at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is pushing to “Make America Healthy Again” in its biggest market.
Ter Kulve said Magnum had removed most artificial colouring and that Magnum was working to reduce sugar content as long as there was no compromise on taste.
“It has to taste fabulous because actually making very healthy ice cream products that nobody likes is a useless exercise,” ter Kulve said.
($1 = 0.8547 euros)
(Reporting by Alexander Marrow and Lisa Jucca; Editing by Joe Bavier, Elaine Hardcastle)
