A GROUP of Ukrainian activists gave the new boss of Unilever a hostile welcome yesterday and called for the Dove and Marmite maker to quit Russia.
It came as Kyiv’s government branded the company “an international sponsor of war”.
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As Hein Schumacher —- who joined from a Dutch dairy — began his job as CEO, anti-war campaigners displayed a billboard outside the company’s London HQ
It showed injured Ukrainian soldiers in the style of Dove’s body positive adverts.
Other Western firms, including McDonald’s and IKEA, have pulled out of Russia since the invasion of Ukraine, but Unilever has continued to run four factories and sell Magnum and Cornetto ice creams to Russians.
The company often makes a lot of its woke “purpose” credentials — saying on its website that it “wants to act on the social and environmental issues facing the world” and how it wants to enhance people’s lives with its products.
But it still employs 3,500 in Russia and its profits there have increased on the back of a stronger rouble and higher prices, which are estimated to have contributed up to £42million in taxes to the Kremlin government.
Oleksandr Novikov, the head of Ukraine’s National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, said: “Unilever cannot say it is opposed to the war while at the same time contributing to Putin’s war machine.
“We have added it as an International Sponsor of War because its hundreds of millions in tax contributions to the Russian state are helping to fund its attacks on Ukraine.
“Unilever has a new CEO, it needs a new start and to live up to its values on human rights.”
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A Ukrainian fighter called Artem, 44, who lost his legs in the Kherson region and appears on the billboard, slammed Unilever for contributing to Russia’s war chest.
He said: “Every rouble translates into bullets that harm Ukrainians and missiles targeting cities across Ukraine . . . Stop it.”
A Unilever spokesman stuck to previous lines that it condemns the war.
The firm said abandoning its business and brands in Russia would risk them being operated by the state — and may put employees’ jobs and safety in jeopardy.
BATTERY PLANT IN UK HINT
JAGUAR Land Rover’s owner is recruiting for jobs, fuelling speculation that the location for its new battery factory will be in the UK and not Spain.
The job adverts, posted on LinkedIn, are for Tata’s battery cell business Agratas.
One of the posts says the new organisation “will change sustainability in the automotive sector globally”.
There has been intense competition between the UK and Spain for the location of Jaguar’s battery factory, which would also lead to a boost for electric car production.
The UK government is understood to have offered a £500million subsidy package to Tata to convince it to build the electric battery plant in Somerset rather than Spain, which would create up to 9,000 jobs. But the much-hyped deal is yet to be done.
Britain’s electric car revolution was dealt a blow when battery site BritishVolt collapsed earlier this year.
BUBBLE BATH’S SPLASH
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A BABY bubble bath brand started by a mum to soothe her daughter’s eczema is on track to treble sales to £40million over the next five years.
Childs Farm was launched by Joanna Jensen in 2011 and is now sold by Boots and other major stores. It was bought for £36.8million last year by Imperial Leather maker PZ Cussons.
Ms Jensen, who kept an eight per cent stake, and PZ Cussons are now ramping up an international expansion.
Paul Yocum at PZ Cussons told The Sun the firm has grown revenues by 13 per cent in the past year.
DRUG IN £10BN HIT TO ASTRA
ALMOST £10billion was wiped off AstraZeneca’s valuation yesterday amid fears that its lung cancer drug might not be as effective as hoped.
Shares in the British-Swedish pharma giant dropped six per cent in the morning to £103.74 after it published the first results from its phase 3 trial for datopotamab deruxtecan.
It was the biggest faller among FTSE 100 companies.
AstraZeneca had said that clinical trials had found the drug could stall the spread of cancer for longer than the current chemotherapy options.
However, analysts say shareholders are likely to be disappointed that the company cannot say with confidence if patients taking the drug would live longer — with more than three months usually defined as “clinically meaningful”.
WINTER’S BILL RISE WARNING
BRITS should prepare for another surge in energy bills if there is a cold winter, the head of the International Energy Agency warned.
Regulator Ofgem recently said bills should fall below £2,000 from October, but the IEA is concerned there could be another spike in gas prices if China ramps up consumption again. A cold winter would also require more heating, which would suck up supplies.
Fatih Birol, president of the IEA, which works with 31 governments to provide analysis and develop policies on the energy industry, said: “In a scenario where the Chinese economy is very strong, buys a lot of energy from the markets, and we have a harsh winter, we may see strong upward pressure under natural gas prices.”
The Chinese economy continues to struggle due to its strict three-year long zero- Covid regime. Recent economic data shows its factory output is still shrinking.
UNIFORM M&S SOS
MARKS & Spencer is giving shoppers 20 per cent off new school uniform vouchers when they donate their old uniforms.
The retailer has joined forces with Oxfam and eBay to also sell second-hand school uniform on a “pre-loved” eBay shop to help cash-strapped parents with cheaper clothes.
Alexandra Dimitriu at M&S said: “We’re encouraging our customers to drop uniform they no longer need into one of our new Shwopping boxes.”
