Unilever, a leader in household, and personal care (64%), is also one of the five largest packaged food manufacturers globally (€21.8B, or 36% of revenues). Headquartered in London, it has employees in 100 countries and products in 190 countries. Governments globally are seeking to combat obesity, which the World Health Organization says has almost triples since 1975. Increasing regulatory environment and consumer trends demand healthier diets. 

As an industry leader and arguably the most geographically  wide-spread food company, Unilever has been a first mover in nutrition transparency. The company necessarily plays a role in establishing global norms and best practices for the packaged food industry. 

The company is a leader in nutrition transparency relative to the packaged food industry, but Candriam and other investors believe that the entire industry has been slow to improve its products and its reporting. 

Unilever has its own Nutrient Profiling Model (NPM), yet it was unclear whether it was aligned with government-endorsed standards/ regulations. The company published and tracked goals, such as salt across its product line, sugar across its ice cream line. Unilever reported that 61% of its food and beverage sales in 2020 were products with “High Nutritional Standards”, and pledged to increase this to 70% by 2022. 

Candriam and  other investors were concerned that reporting offered by Unilever does not offer the information needed to independently track its progress against government and regulatory standards and regulations. The ATNI (see box) calculated that only 17% of Unilever’s global food and beverage products could be considered ‘healthier’ products. This ranked Unilever as second in the industry - again, investors would like to see industry-wide improvement. 

Read more here: 2023_08_engagement-case_unilever_gb.pdf (candriam.com)