Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Business

Ben & Jerry’s will find ‘new arrangement’ for Israel sales: Unilever CEO

Ben & Jerry’s will work to find a “new arrangement” this year for selling its ice cream in Israel after the Vermont-based company announced it would no longer sell its products in the occupied Palestinian territories, its corporate parent said Thursday. “Our absolute focus right now is to figure out what the new arrangement will be for Ben & Jerry’s,” Unilever CEO Alan Jope told Reuters. It was the first time Jope addressed his subsidiary’s future plans for Israel since the controversial boycott of Jewish settlements was announced in July. Ben & Jerry’s announcement sparked a backlash, with several states, including New York and New Jersey, pulling their investments from Unilever in protest. Jope, who said last year that Unilever could not interfere with the decision made by Ben & Jerry’s autonomous board, indirectly criticized the ice cream maker Thursday. “On subjects where Unilever brands don’t have the expertise or credibility, we think it’s best that they stay out of the debate,” he said. “Ben & Jerry’s is a great brand — most of the time they get it right — they have a great track record of campaigning on important issues that are relevant to their consumers.” Ben & Jerry’s accounts for about 3% of the world’s ice cream market. The brand’s sales grew 9% last year, Unilever said, outpacing overall underlying sales growth of 4.5%. The company did not give further details on sales. “I definitely would not make a connection between those (Ben & Jerry’s) statements and its sales growth,” Jope said. “The growth that we’re seeing on Ben & Jerry’s is driven much more by their innovation program,” Jope added. The Ben & Jerry’s controversy didn’t appear to negatively affect the parent company’s bottom line. Unilever on Thursday released its fourth-quarter earnings, which showed a 4.9% increase in sales. The figure beat analysts’ expectations as the growth forecast was at 3.8%. In 2021, Unilever reported an increase in sales of 4.5% — the best result in nine years.




You May Also Like

Business

Activist investor Starboard Value has purchased a 6.5% stake in web services firm GoDaddy worth about $800 million, according to a regulatory filing with...

Business

Contact The Author Female employees at CNN are furious that chief spokesperson Allison Gollust is keeping her job after lying about her affair with...

Business

North Korean hackers managed to steal a fortune in cryptocurrency in 2021, according to the results of a recent study. Cybercriminals based in North...

Business

Katie Couric dished on Jeff Zucker and Allison Gollust’s relationship in her tell-all memoir last fall, saying it struck staffers as “super strange” when...

Business Tribune