Unilever is a British-Dutch multinational consumer goods company, headquartered in London, United Kingdom and Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Unilever products include food, sweets, energy drinks, baby food, soft drinks, ice cream, tea, cleaning agents, coffee, pet food, bottled water, chewing gum, frozen pizza, pregnancy tests, juice, beauty products, personal care, breakfast cereals, medicine and pharmaceutical healthcare products. Unilever is the largest producer of soap in the world. It is one of the oldest multinational companies and its products are available in around 190 countries.

Unilever owns over 400 brands, with a turnover in 2017 of 53.7 billion euros, and thirteen brands with sales of over one billion euros: Axe/Lynx, Dove, Omo, Heartbrand ice creams, Hellmann’s, Knorr, Lipton, Lux, Magnum, Rexona/Degree, Sunsilk and Surf.

It is a dual-listed company consisting of Unilever N.V., based in Rotterdam, and Unilever plc, based in London. The two companies operate as a single business, with a common board of directors. However, on 11 June 2020 Unilever announced it has reviewed its corporate structure and that the company was to merge Unilever N.V into Unilever PLC forming one holding company to be based in the UK. This unification is expected to complete in November 2020.

Unilever is organised into four main divisions – Foods, Refreshment (beverages and ice cream), Home Care, and Beauty & Personal Care. It has research and development facilities in China, India, the Netherlands, United Kingdom and United States.

Unilever was founded on 2 September 1929, by the merger of the Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie and the British soapmaker Lever Brothers. During the second half of the 20th century, the company increasingly diversified from being a maker of products made of oils and fats, and expanded its operations worldwide. It has made numerous corporate acquisitions, including Lipton (1971), Brooke Bond (1984), Chesebrough-Ponds (1987), Best Foods (2000), Ben & Jerry’s (2000), Alberto-Culver (2010), Dollar Shave Club (2016) and Pukka Herbs (2017). Unilever divested its specialty chemicals businesses to ICI in 1997. In the 2010s, under the leadership of Paul Polman, the company gradually shifted its focus towards health and beauty brands and away from food brands showing slow growth.

Unilever plc has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Unilever N.V. has a primary listing on Euronext Amsterdam and is a constituent of the AEX index. The company is also a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index. Unilever N.V. also has a primary listing in NYSE.

Traded as:          

LSE: ULVR

NYSE: UN

NYSE: UL

Euronext: UNA

TTSE: UCL

IDX: UNVR

FTSE 100 component (ULVR)

AEX component (UNA)

LQ45 component (UNVR)

Industry:              Consumer goods

Predecessor:     Lever Brothers; Margarine Unie

Founded:            2 September 1929; 91 years ago

Founders:          

Lever Brothers branch:

William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme

James Darcy Lever

Margarine Unie line:

Samuel van den Bergh

Georgе Schicht

Singrose

Headquarters:   London, United Kingdom; Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Products:             juice, pet food, coffee, beauty & personal care, food & refreshments, cleaning products, energy drinks, baby food, candy, tea, pregnancy tests, chewing gum, frozen pizza, bottled water, breakfast cereals, soft drinks, medicine & pharmaceutical healthcare.

Website:              www.unilever.com