Dec 3 (Reuters) – Unilever’s ice cream business, which is spinning off and listing in Amsterdam next week, expects to achieve free cash flow between 800 million and 1 billion euros ($933.2 million to $1.17 billion) in 2028-29, it said on Wednesday.
The Magnum Ice Cream Company will become the world’s biggest standalone ice cream business, home to brands including Wall’s, Ben & Jerry’s and Cornetto, commanding more than a fifth of the $87 billion global ice cream market.
Magnum is betting on the allure of indulgent snacks and the listing will test investor appetite for a sugar-heavy product at a time when GLP-1 weight loss drugs have shaken up consumer trends and U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing a ‘Make America Healthy Again’ campaign.
The company also expects to maintain a debt ratio of between 2 and 2.5 times adjusted core profit for the foreseeable future, it said in a prospectus.
The company expects a sole focus on ice cream to improve efficiency and productivity, helping it to manage greater exposure to raw materials price fluctuations and to compete more effectively with rivals such as Nestle-backed Froneri.
Magnum is also inheriting the Ben & Jerry’s brand from Unilever, and with it a relationship that has soured in the past few years. Magnum said on Tuesday that the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, a U.S.-based charitable group funded by the brand, must address deficiencies in financial controls and governance to maintain full funding.
($1 = 0.8573 euros)
(Reporting by Dimitri Rhodes and Alexander MarrowEditing by Louise Heavens and David Goodman)
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