Unilever is reportedly looking to offload healthy snacking brand Graze as the consumer packaged foods giant continues to explore ways to reshape its portfolio.
The group has approached a number of potential buyers in the consumer goods and manufacturing space to weigh up interest in a deal, according to a story in The Financial Times last night.
A banking source told the newspaper that Graze was likely to be worth between £50m and £80m if sold, which would be a big loss on the £150m paid for the brand by Unilever in 2019.
Last year, Unilever integrated Graze, which had previously been operated as a standalone business, into the wider group to save costs, resulting in significant redundancies.
Graze has underperformed during Unilever’s ownership, registering losses every year since the acquisition and seeing sales drop to just £39m in 2023.
A source told The Grocer in May last year they were “surprised” Unilever was integrating Graze rather than looking to sell the brand.
Unilever CEO Fernando Fernandez, who took over from Hein Schumacher in a shock move earlier this year, said he was looking to sell food businesses in the portfolio accounting for about €1bn in revenues as part of ongoing efforts to shift the group more towards personal care and beauty.
In the past six months Unilever has already sold plant-based brand The Vegetarian Butcher, as well as Dutch brands Conimex and Unox.
Unilever also acquired eco-deodorant brand Wild in April for £230m.
Speculation continues to circulate about the possible sale of Marmite, Colman’s and Pot Noodle.
It follows Unilever spinning off its tea operations and spreads business in recent years, while it is currently spinning off the ice cream division, which is set to list on the stock exchange in the Netherlands later this year.
Unilever declined to comment for The Financial Times story. The group told The Grocer it did not comment on market speculation.
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