Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch conglomerate, is considering the sale of its Italian frozen food business, according to reports.
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The sale of the Italian business – called Findus Italy – could be worth up to EUR800m (US$1.2bn) the Financial Times reported today (3 December).
The deal is said to have attracted interest from Birds Eye Iglo and the Findus Group, its private-equity-owned rivals.
Findus Italy makes ready meal versions of classic Italian dishes, such as carbonara and bolognese. It was the only part of Unilever’s European frozen food operations that the company kept when it sold Birds Eye and Iglo to Permira, the UK-based private equity group, for EUR1.7bn in 2006.
Last month, the company insisted it will “reignite” volume growth by investing in its brands.
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By GlobalDataSpeaking at its earnings conference call for the first nine months of the year, CEO Paul Polman said that gross margins had steadily improved, not only in the last quarter, but over several quarters.
“There’s no reason why that won’t continue,” Polman insisted. “We’ve shown a gross margin improvement of 290 basis points in quarter three and it’s now up 30 basis points in the year as a whole. I’ve said we will reignite volume growth once more, while protecting operating margins and cash flow.”
Unilever declined to comment when contacted by just-food.
