Report & accounts 2002 in full - Unilever

Description of business
Unilever is one of the world’s leading suppliers of fast
moving consumer goods in foods, household care and
personal product categories.
Business structure
Our operations are organised into two global divisions –
Foods and Home & Personal Care (HPC) – headed by
Division Directors. This structure allows the requisite focus
on foods and home & personal care activities at both the
regional and global levels.
These divisions’ operations are organised into businesses on
a regional basis, with the exception of the global businesses
of Prestige, our fragrance business within HPC and, within
Foods, ice cream and frozen foods, Slim•Fast Worldwide and
Foodsolutions, which provides solutions for professional
chefs and caterers. The regional and global businesses are
headed by Business Presidents who are responsible for their
profitability. These businesses remain the driving force
behind Unilever, comprising the operating companies which
provide the key interface with customers and consumers,
allowing quick response to the needs of local markets.
Full details of significant acquisitions and disposals can be
found on pages 16 and 17. Only those with particular
relevance to our business structure are reported below.
Foods
For an explanation of the new category structure within
Foods see page 24.
Savoury and dressings
We are the global leader in savoury and dressings.
Our leading savoury brand, Knorr, is Unilever’s biggest
brand, with over €3.3 billion of sales in over 100 markets.
Its product range includes soups, bouillons, sauces, snacks,
noodles, frozen food and meal solutions. Our wider savoury
product range is currently marketed around the world under
a variety of brand names.
Hellmann’s is the world’s number one mayonnaise brand.
With other major brands in the portfolio including Amora,
Calvé and Wishbone, we have the biggest dressings business
in the world. We continue to extend our dressings product
range rapidly to appeal to consumers’ growing appetite
for new tastes, flavours and textures, healthier options
and snacks.
With Bertolli, which began as a leading Italian olive oil
brand, we are building on the qualities associated with
Italian food to extend the brand into spreads, dressings and
pasta sauces. Bertolli is now sold in more than 30 countries.
Spreads and cooking products
We are the market leader in spreads in Europe and North
America. Our combined spreads and cooking products
have a turnover of more than €6 billion in more than
100 countries.
Unilever Annual Report & Accounts and Form 20-F 2002
About Unilever 9
Spreads marketed under Becel and Flora contain ingredients
that are proven to reduce cholesterol. New cooking aids
including Rama/Blue Band’s Culinesse, a liquid margarine,
provide healthier alternatives to traditional oils and fats.
Health & wellness
Consumers are increasingly demanding healthier options
in their food and drinks. We respond to their needs with
products and brands across our portfolio including Slim •Fast,
which answers consumers’ need to manage their weight
with healthy food that fits in to contemporary lifestyles.
From its origins in North America, Slim •Fast is expanding
across Europe, Asia and Latin America with a range
including meal replacement drinks, soups and breakfast
bars and now has sales of more than €1 billion.
In Asia and Africa we meet consumers’ needs for
nutritionally-enhanced staples in affordable formats with
Annapurna and, under AdeS in Latin America, we market
a range of tasty, nutritional, soy-based drinks.
Beverages
We are the largest seller of branded packet tea in the
world through our Lipton and Brooke Bond brands.
Lipton is the world’s leading brand in tea and ice tea.
We recently launched a successful soft drinks innovation
with Lipton Brisk in North America. Our joint venture with
PepsiCo Inc. helps us to extend the reach of our brands
through a distribution network complementary to our own
supply chain.
Ice cream and frozen foods
We are the world’s leading producer of ice cream, with sales
in more than 40 countries worldwide. Ice cream products
under the ‘Heart logo’, including Cornetto, Magnum, Carte
d’Or and Solero, are sold internationally. Breyers, Ben &
Jerry’s, Klondike and Popsicle are leading North Americanbased
brands. Ben & Jerry’s is also sold in Europe.
We are the leading producer of frozen foods in
Europe, under the Findus brand in Italy, Birds Eye brand
in the United Kingdom and Iglo brand in most other
European countries.
Report of the Directors