Unilever's Struggling Spreads Business Returns to the Limelight

Executives at Anglo-Dutch consumer goods company Unilever plc/NV on Tuesday hinted that a strategic review of its spreads business may be coming, while waving off the possibility of an outright sale of the margarine brands business. Speculation about a sale of spreads, whose brands include Flora and I Can't Believe It's Not Butter margarines, mounted this week with the news, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, that spreads CEO Sean Gogarty had abruptly quit. His departure comes about six months after Unilever completed the restructuring of the unit into a standalone, but still wholly owned, company named Unilever Butter & Spreads Co. Gogarty is replaced by Nicolas Liabeuf, a former marketing senior vice president. The spreads restructuring, which was first announced in December 2014, was widely seen as a prelude to a sale.