NIGERIA – Leading FMCG company, Unilever Nigeria has announced plans to separate its tea business into a separate legal entity.

In a notification at the Nigerian Stock Exchange, the company said that the decision was in further to the announcement made on 5th August, 2020 by its parent company on the strategic review and planned separation of its tea business globally.

“The planned separation will go through the normal approval process and is expected to be concluded by the end of 2021,” the company said.

The company has indicated that the intended plan to establish the tea business into its own legal entity will help it achieve its potentials as a stand-alone business.

In January 2020, when Unilever was announcing the strategic review of its 3 billion euros a year global tea division, the company agreed to retain the units in India and Indonesia, and the partnership interests in the ready-to-drink tea joint ventures.

The maker of PG Tips and Lipton tea has started separating offices, manufacturing lines and people within the unit, to ease the transitioning process.

As part of its global restructuring, the company ditched its Anglo-Dutch dual-headed structure in favour of a single corporate entity based in London, mainly to pave the way to make bigger acquisitions and reshape its portfolio.

According to reports by Nairametrics, Unilever Nigeria’s food products division which includes its tea and savoury segment reported a revenue of N34.71 billion (US$84.29m) in 2020, higher than the revenue of N31.91 billion (US$77.49m) the company made in 2019.

“The planned separation will go through the normal approval process and is expected to be concluded by the end of 2021.”

Unilever Nigeria

Meanwhile in Kenya, the consumer goods company has donated digital, Braille assistive devices worth Ksh22 million (US$200,00) to support visually impaired students in the country as part of its corporate social responsibility.

The devices which will be for onward distribution to the learners with visual impairment in secondary schools and colleges were handed to the Kilimanjaro Blind Trust Africa (KBTA).

The firm has been in a race to accelerate progress inequality of opportunity and women’s empowerment, two issues the company says are central to its long-term growth and social impact.

Unilever Kenya MD, Luck Ochieng says the distribution of the 300 multi-functional digital devices, referred to as (ORBIT Reader 20) to the learners with visual impairment is a significant step in helping to fulfill this vision.

The Orbit Reader 20 is a digital Braille book reader and note-taker that can hold an entire library of textbooks and other reading material on its memory card.

“Earlier this year, Unilever announced a wide-ranging set of commitments and actions to help build a more equitable and inclusive society by raising living standards across its value chain and creating opportunities through inclusivity,” Ochieng said.

The donation is a reinforcement of Unilever’s support to KBTA’s ambition to put a digital, Braille assistive device in the hands of every learner in Kenya and possibly East Africa.

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