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By Yadarisa Shabong and Richa Naidu
(Reuters) -Ben & Jerry's maker Unilever has chosen Amsterdam over London and New York as the primary listing for its ice cream business, it said on Thursday after announcing full-year earnings which underwhelmed investors.
Unilever, whose other brands include Hellman's mayonnaise and Dove soap, also said that it expected a slower start to 2025 due to subdued market growth in the near term. The warning led to a near 7% drop in its shares, wiping around 8.5 billion pounds off its market value.
Tineke Frikkee, a portfolio manager at Waverton Investment Management, a Unilever investor, said Thursday's decline in shares was down to a lack of positive momentum for the first half of 2025 and a risk quarterly forecasts will not be met.
Unilever reported fourth-quarter underlying sales growth of 4% on Thursday, compared with a 4.1% forecast by analysts in a company-compiled poll. It also forecast 2025 underlying sales growth to be within its multi-year range of 3% to 5%.
Chief Executive Hein Schumacher had laid out cost cuts at the company last year, including separating the ice cream division through a demerger and cutting thousands of jobs to address years of underperformance.
The ice cream business, which includes five of the world's top 10 brands including Magnum and Wall's, will have secondary listings in London and New York. It generated turnover of 8.3 billion euros ($8.6 billion) in 2024.
The decision to list in Amsterdam will likely be a blow to British finance minister Rachel Reeves, who met executives from Unilever last September. The official register of meetings described it as a discussion on investment in the United Kingdom and capital markets and reforms.
In the Netherlands, Dirk Beljaarts, the minister of economic affairs, said the decision by Unilever confirmed the company's "confidence in the Netherlands and underscores the competitiveness and attractiveness of our business climate".
It would have been difficult for Reeves to woo Unilever given it had made commitments to the Dutch government back in 2020 that it would choose the Netherlands if it ever planned to spin off its food and refreshment business. Unilever had picked London as its main stock listing and tax venue when it simplified its dual legal structure.
BEN & JERRY'S
The listing might be complicated by Unilever's increasingly contentious relationship with the independent board of Ben & Jerry's, which ratcheted up a censorship lawsuit against Unilever last month.
It accused its parent company of suppressing a social policy statement the U.S. ice cream maker wanted to release because it mentioned President Donald Trump.