Unilever PLC stock is entering one of the most important trading weeks in its modern history. On Monday, 8 December 2025, the group completes the long‑trailed demerger of its global ice cream arm, The Magnum Ice Cream Company N.V. (TMICC), leaving a “new Unilever” that is leaner, more beauty‑ and personal‑care‑heavy, and under intense analyst scrutiny.
Below is a structured look at the latest price action, corporate moves, forecasts and risks as of 8 December 2025.
Market snapshot: how Unilever shares look going into the spin‑off
On the U.S. market, Unilever’s NYSE‑listed American Depositary Receipts (ticker: UL) last closed at $59.48 on 5 December 2025, giving the group a market capitalisation of about $147.8 billion and a one‑year market‑cap gain of roughly 2.4%. [1]
In London, the primary listing (ULVR) finished the same day at around 4,456p, within touching distance of its 52‑week high of 4,910p and above the 52‑week low of 4,311p. Based on Hargreaves Lansdown data, the shares trade on a price/earnings ratio of about 22x with a dividend yield near 3.3%. [2]
That’s classic “defensive staple” territory: not cheap, not wild, and purchased mainly by investors who like cash flow, brand power and sleep.
Magnum Ice Cream Company: spin‑off goes live
The big structural change is the separation of Unilever’s entire ice cream division — brands such as Magnum, Wall’s, Cornetto and Ben & Jerry’s — into a new listed company, The Magnum Ice Cream Company N.V. (TMICC).
Key dates and mechanics
A regulatory announcement on 5 December confirmed that: [3]
- The demerger legally completes on Saturday, 6 December 2025.
- TMICC shares are admitted to trading in Amsterdam, London and New York on Monday, 8 December 2025.
- Index provider Solactive notes that 8 December is the ex‑spin‑off date for Unilever stock; from that session, ULVR and its Dutch line ULVR.AS are quoted ex‑TMICC in equity indices. [4]
Euronext has set a reference price of €12.80 per TMICC share for the Amsterdam debut, giving investors a starting point to value the business. [5]
Unilever’s own spin‑off materials say the parent will retain a sub‑20% stake in TMICC, to be sold down over time to help fund separation costs and preserve capital flexibility. Ice Cream will be reported as a discontinued operation from Q4 2025, and Unilever will carry out a share consolidation to keep earnings‑per‑share (EPS) and dividends‑per‑share comparable before and after the demerger. [6]
How big is TMICC?
TMICC is expected to be the world’s largest pure‑play ice cream company, with over 20% of a roughly $87 billion global ice cream market, and management guidance for free cash flow of €800 million to €1 billion by 2028–29. [7]
That scale and cash‑flow profile are part of why some analysts argue the spin‑off is effectively Unilever handing its crown‑jewel category to the market.
“New Unilever”: growth, margins and the productivity plan
Strip out the ice cream drama and the operating story in 2025 is actually fairly steady.
Sales growth: modest but broad‑based
For Q3 2025, Unilever reported: [8]
- Underlying sales growth (USG): 3.9%,
- made up of 1.5% volume growth and 2.4% price growth.
- Turnover: €14.7 billion, down 3.5% year‑on‑year, mainly due to currency and disposals.
- Nine‑month USG: 3.6% (1.5% volume, 2.1% price).
By business group in Q3: [9]
- Beauty & Wellbeing: USG 5.1% (helped by strong growth in Dove hair, Vaseline, Liquid I.V. and prestige brands).
- Personal Care: USG 4.1%.
- Home Care: USG 3.1%.
- Foods: USG 3.4%.
- Ice Cream (soon to be TMICC): USG 3.7%.
Earlier, first‑half results showed underlying sales growth of 3.4%, with gross margin at 45.7%, supported by higher‑than‑expected productivity and procurement savings and increased brand investment. [10]
€800 million productivity programme and lower restructuring costs
A central pillar of the investment case is Unilever’s productivity programme, launched in 2024 to simplify the organisation and sharpen its category focus. Management now expects: [11]
- Total savings of €800 million,
- of which around €650 million by the end of 2025,
- and the remaining €150 million in 2026.
Because this is running ahead of plan, Unilever now guides for restructuring costs of about 1.2% of turnover in 2025, lower than previously indicated. That matters for margin optics in a year when EPS will also be affected by the ice cream separation.
Dividend policy: signalling stability
Unilever declared a Q3 2025 dividend of €0.4528 per ordinary share (or £0.3928 on the London line and $0.5258 per ADR), up 3% versus Q3 2024. Crucially, the company says it expects to pay the Q4 2025 dividend in full despite the demerger, implying no immediate reset to headline payouts as the group transitions into its post‑TMICC form. [12]
Together with that 3.3% forward yield and the recent cancellation of treasury shares (more on that in a moment), the board is working hard to send the message: “yes, we’re changing, but we’re still a predictable cash‑return machine.”
Share‑count tweaks and portfolio pruning
Cancellation of 13.3 million treasury shares
On 3 December 2025, Unilever announced the cancellation of 13,288,138 ordinary shares previously held in treasury, under section 729 of the UK Companies Act. After this move, the company holds 58,078,298 shares in treasury and has 2,511,709,200 ordinary shares in issue. [13]
That doesn’t transform the equity story overnight, but it shrinks the share count at the margin, slightly boosting per‑share metrics like EPS and dividends, and underlining a shareholder‑friendly capital‑allocation stance.
Selling Graze and eyeing Marmite, Bovril and Colman’s
On 1 December 2025, Reuters reported that Unilever will sell its UK snack brand Graze to Katjes International — owner of Candy Kittens — for an undisclosed sum. The deal, expected to complete in the first half of 2026, fits broader plans to exit selected packaged‑food assets and tilt even more towards beauty and wellbeing. [14]
The same report reiterated that Unilever is considering the sale of long‑standing British brands such as Marmite, Colman’s and Bovril, signalling that the portfolio pruning is far from over. [15]
Put together with the TMICC spin‑off, Unilever is effectively trying to swap a sprawling “food plus personal care” empire for a tighter cluster of higher‑margin, faster‑growing categories.
Analyst views: consensus optimism vs RBC’s scepticism
Wall Street and the City: “Moderate Buy” overall
On the New York‑listed UL ADRs, data compiled by MarketBeat on 8 December shows: [16]
- 10 covering brokerages.
- Average recommendation: “Moderate Buy”.
- Rating split: 2 Sell, 2 Hold, 4 Buy, 2 Strong Buy.
- Average 12‑month price target: $73, implying roughly 23% upside from around $59.5.
MarketBeat also highlights that large institutions have added to positions: Wellington Management, Fisher Asset Management, Bank of America and others modestly increased stakes, with around 9.7% of the stock held by hedge funds and institutional investors. [17]
For the London‑traded ULVR shares, TradingView’s aggregated analyst data points to an average 12‑month price target of about 5,020p, with estimates ranging from roughly 3,900p to 5,890p. [18]
A December 2025 overview piece on TS2/TechStock² summarises the picture neatly:
- ULVR (London): consensus “Hold”, with an average target around 4,690p, only a few percent above spot.
- UL (New York): consensus “Moderate Buy”, with an average target around $73. TechStock²
In other words, analysts broadly like the franchise and the transformation story, but they’re split on how much upside is left once you’ve paid 22x earnings for it.
RBC’s “Underperform”: the bear case in one note
Not everyone is impressed. In a detailed note published in late October, RBC Capital Markets reiterated an “underperform” rating on Unilever with a price target of 3,900p, which at the time sat about 14% below the then trading price. [19]
Key elements of RBC’s bearish thesis include: [20]
- EBITDA and EPS dilution
- The TMICC separation is estimated to cut group EBITDA by 11–13% and trim EPS by 1–3% in 2026–27, even after share consolidation.
- Losing the strongest business
- RBC argues ice cream is Unilever’s most competitively advantaged segment, with a much higher “market leadership score” than the remaining portfolio. Shedding it leaves Unilever less dominant in its core categories.
- Stranded costs and execution risk
- Around 13% of ice cream revenue is tied up in overheads that must be either removed or absorbed elsewhere. RBC is sceptical that the €800 million productivity plan will fully offset this in a tougher cost environment.
- Growth targets seen as ambitious
- Management has talked up a 4–6% organic sales growth ambition. RBC expects volume growth of only about 2% per year and warns this target is “a big ask” for a slimmed‑down portfolio still carrying a chunk of slower‑growing or “non‑core” brands.
RBC’s fair‑value estimate of roughly £38 per share underscores its view that the current rating builds in more optimism than the fundamentals justify.
Official consensus: modest growth, mixed pricing
Unilever itself publishes an analyst consensus dashboard on its investor relations site. The latest collection (compiled between late September and mid‑October) suggests that the analyst community expects: [21]
- Underlying sales growth (USG)
- Q3 2025: 3.7% (actual came in slightly above at 3.9%).
- Q4 2025: 4.4%.
- Full‑year 2025: 3.7%.
- Volume contribution
- Full‑year volume growth around 1.7%, with pricing making up the rest.
This is a very “Unilever‑ish” outlook: low‑to‑mid single‑digit growth, mostly defensive, with a careful blend of modest price increases and slowly recovering volumes.
Governance and headline risk: the Ben & Jerry’s dispute
Even as ice cream exits the consolidated accounts, Unilever isn’t entirely free of the category’s politics.
On 7 December 2025, Reuters reported that Anuradha Mittal, chair of Ben & Jerry’s independent board, refuses to resign despite pressure from Magnum/Unilever ahead of the spin‑off. An audit of the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, a U.S. non‑profit tied to the brand, flagged deficiencies in financial controls and governance; Mittal says the audit was “engineered” to discredit her and undermine the board’s authority. [22]
TMICC’s securities filings warn that Ben & Jerry’s activism around geopolitical issues could lead to reputational damage, boycotts or investor claims, risks that will now sit directly with TMICC — although Unilever, as a minority shareholder and former parent, will still be in the frame to some degree. [23]
For Unilever stock, this is less about immediate earnings and more about headline risk and brand management. Investors in the new TMICC will have to decide how comfortable they are with a world‑leading ice cream company that also occasionally doubles as a political lightning rod.
What all this means for Unilever PLC stock
Putting it together, the Unilever investment case on 8 December 2025 has a very “two‑column” feel.
The bullish column
Supportive elements for the stock include:
- A more focused, higher‑margin portfolio after the spin‑off, with Beauty & Wellbeing and Personal Care leading growth. [24]
- An €800 million productivity plan that is ahead of schedule and expected to deliver most of its savings by the end of 2025. [25]
- Continuity in the dividend, which has just been raised again, plus incremental support from treasury share cancellations. [26]
- A still‑solid defensive profile: people keep washing, cleaning and eating, even if they do it while holding GLP‑1 weight‑loss prescriptions.
For many long‑term holders, Unilever remains what it has been for decades: a global consumer‑brands franchise with respectable growth, reliable dividends and a decent inflation hedge.
The bearish column
On the other hand, sceptics raise points that shouldn’t be waved away: [27]
- TMICC is arguably the most advantaged business, and it’s leaving. That may lower the blended quality of the remaining portfolio.
- Even with cost savings, the spin‑off looks EPS‑ and EBITDA‑dilutive for at least the next couple of years, especially once stranded costs are accounted for.
- Unilever’s 4–6% organic growth ambition sits at the top end of what recent trends and consensus suggest is realistic.
- The stock is already on about 22x earnings with a 3–3.5% yield — not outrageous, but hardly distressed. [28]
Add in macro wobbles in Latin America and some Asian markets, plus the usual competition from both global rivals and supermarket private labels, and you can see why the Street is long‑term constructive but short‑term divided.
Key things for investors to watch after 8 December
Over the coming days and into 2026, the market’s verdict on Unilever PLC stock will depend heavily on five practical questions: TechStock²+2Investegate+2
- How TMICC trades out of the gate
The initial valuation of Magnum Ice Cream Company in Amsterdam, London and New York will influence how investors mark Unilever’s retained stake and what multiple they assign to the “ex‑ice cream” group. - How smooth the share consolidation and index adjustments are
Short‑term volatility is almost guaranteed as EPS, DPS and index weights are rebased. Clear communication from management will matter as much as the raw numbers. - Updated 2026 guidance on growth and margins
At the Q4/FY 2025 results in February, investors will want post‑spin targets and a road map showing how Unilever plans to hit its mid‑term ambitions without leaning too hard on price. - Further disposals (Marmite, Bovril, Colman’s and beyond)
The multiples Unilever can fetch for legacy food brands will say a lot about how the market values its tail assets — and how aggressive management really is about portfolio rotation. [29] - Dividend policy plus use of TMICC proceeds
Confirmation that the dividend remains intact, and clarity on how fast Unilever intends to sell down its TMICC stake and recycle cash into buybacks, growth capex or debt reduction, will be central to the equity story. [30]
Bottom line
On 8 December 2025, Unilever PLC stock sits at the crossroads of two narratives:
- A high‑quality, cash‑generative consumer giant getting sharper, leaner and more growth‑focused; and
- A mature staple with limited organic acceleration, selling off its brightest star and asking investors to trust in execution and cost‑savings magic.
Whether ULVR and UL are a bargain, fairly priced, or over‑stretched at ~22x earnings and a 3‑ish percent yield will depend on your tolerance for corporate surgery and your patience with low‑to‑mid single‑digit growth.
References
1. stockanalysis.com, 2. www.hl.co.uk, 3. www.stockopedia.com, 4. www.solactive.com, 5. www.reuters.com, 6. www.unilever.com, 7. www.reuters.com, 8. www.investegate.co.uk, 9. www.investegate.co.uk, 10. www.unilever.com, 11. www.unilever.com, 12. www.unilever.com, 13. www.investegate.co.uk, 14. www.reuters.com, 15. www.reuters.com, 16. www.marketbeat.com, 17. www.marketbeat.com, 18. www.tradingview.com, 19. www.investing.com, 20. www.investing.com, 21. www.unilever.com, 22. www.reuters.com, 23. www.reuters.com, 24. www.unilever.com, 25. www.unilever.com, 26. www.unilever.com, 27. www.investing.com, 28. www.hl.co.uk, 29. www.reuters.com, 30. www.unilever.com
