Brexit debate
Unilever boss backs remain amid company logo row
In a letter sent to employees yesterday (Thursday, June 16), and seen by the BBC, the manufacturer’s chief executive Paul Polman said Unilever’s “thriving operating company, international research centres, factories and global headquarters would be negatively impacted” if the UK were to leave the EU.
The letter, which conceded that it was “not for us to suggest how people might vote”, was also signed by former chief executives Patrick Cescau and Niall FitzGerald, and former chairman Sir Michael Perry.
A Unilever spokesman said that in the event of Brexit, the company would still have an operating business and research facilities in the UK.
However, he added: “We cannot predict the consequences on the economy and subsequent impact on our operations in the UK.
“The way we run the company may be fundamentally different if the decision were taken to leave the EU.”
‘Highly misleading’ to voters
Meanwhile, in a letter seen by The Independent, Unilever – along with Airbus and General Electric – have accused the Vote Leave campaign of being “highly misleading to British voters” after it used their company logos on a taxpayer-funded leaflet.
The heads accused the group of using their names for “propaganda purposes” to imply their support “for exit from the EU”.
Polman has previously gone on record in support of remaining in the EU.
In Unilever’s annual general meeting statement, published earlier this year, he said: “We all agree that the English have the right to vote the way they want to, and at the same time we also realise that Europe needs to reform. But that is not a reason to run away from it.”
Unilever ‘will always survive’
Polman also said a company like Unilever “will always survive” a Brexit, because it operates in 190 countries around the world. But a British exit from the EU would “result in inefficiencies that require careful consideration”.
He added: “[There would be] protracted processes that can take 10 years or more and never end up in a better position than where we are today.
“Regulations will divert and it will become more difficult to reach these economies of scale or the speed, or the efficiency that we are able to get from our current operations, from which the consumer ultimately benefits.”
Meanwhile, Greencore chief executive Patrick Coveney told a Dublin Chamber of Commerce meeting on Wednesday that he expected Britain would vote to leave the EU.
Coveney said the impact on his company would be “negative, not catastrophic,” with the pound and euro weakening against the dollar, RTÉ News reported.
