Unilever close to securing site for new UK HQ

Unilever is understood to be in detailed negotiations over a site in the south of England to house its new head office following its decision to consolidate its three UK operating companies into one business.

Sites have been considered within the area bordered by Unilever's existing sites in Crawley, Kingston-upon-Thames and Walton-upon-Thames in order to limit the travel impact on as many employees as possible, with an announcement expected within weeks.

The company declined to comment on its plans for a new HQ, but confirmed that the first phase of the auction to sell off the Birds Eye frozen food business had been completed, with selected bidders making management presentations and conducting due diligence. Completion was likely by Christmas, said a spokesman.

Press reports that Unilever had axed 25,000 staff over the last 12 months were inaccurate, he added: “The total number of employees in Unilever fell from 223,000 at the end 2004, to 206,000 in 2005 - most of which is attributable to the sale of some of our plantations in India.”

However, “radical organisational changes” instituted by chief executive Patrick Cescau had resulted in “about one third of senior management leaving the business in the 18 months since he was officially appointed chief executive”, confirmed the spokesman.

European supply chain bosses, who were previously spread across several European countries, are being relocated within a newly created subsidiary - the Unilever Supply Chain Company (USCC) - based in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, he added. “Some people are re-locating and only a small number leaving.”

The USCC would bring “significant operational benefits including strengthening our consolidated buying power, reducing inventory and transportation costs and improving the overall management of our production facilities”, he claimed.

“It also benefits from a tax-efficient regime that supports our ambition to focus all our financial resources to help grow the business. The USCC is now located at the heart of a hub of six Unilever innovation centres that, collectively, are critical to driving brand development.”

He added that the drive to simplify the business under the One Unilever initiative had continued and that contracts had recently been signed to outsource some aspects of Finance, HR and IT, which would “enable us to focus our resource on improving our competitiveness and on our core competencies; marketing and sales”

“These sorts of initiatives will undoubtedly have further effects on headcount to varying degrees, but we have not been overly specific as yet, as we are working through the plans country by country,” he explained. “We have said that the number of people likely to be affected by the HR outsourcing is likely to be around 3000, though they will not all go this year.”